Membership in the AICP opens the door to participation in the Producers’ Health Benefits Plan, an employer funded large group health plan available to freelance production professionals and full-time staff employees of eligible participating employers across the U.S. Participation in PHBP is available to full members of the AICP as well as to those employers with a limited AICP membership for the purposes of being signatory to the IATSE Local 111 Production Workers Agreement.

The PHBP Trust was first funded by its AICP member sponsoring employers in 2007 and began offering high quality, no cost coverage to their non-union freelance employees in the production department in 2008. In 2013, the Plan expanded its offerings to Participating Employers’ full-time staff employees. Since 2018, with the merger of the AICP and AICE (Association of Independent Commercial Editors), the Plan now offers the same high quality comprehensive benefits across the commercial production and post production industries. In 2025, PHBP became the health benefits provider to the nascent IATSE Local 111’s eligible union members and now provides coverage to both union and non-union participant employees of its union and non-union participating employers and their eligible full-time staff.

PHBP currently has over 210 Participating Employers, covers roughly 1,200 freelance production professionals, 700 full-time staff employees and over 3,000 total lives, including dependents, in 40 states.

With nearly two decades of providing high quality, free health coverage to eligible freelancers and full-time staff employees, the PHBP Board of Trustees wishes you good health and happiness and invites you to reach out to the Plan to see how we may help you provide exceptional benefits to your employees while keeping an eye on your bottom line.

COVERAGE FOR YOUR FREELANCE PRODUCTION TEAM

• If you are a General Member in good standing of the AICP, regardless of your signatory status with industry unions or guilds, or you are an AICP limited member and signatory to the IATSE Local 111 agreement, you are eligible to become a Participating Employer of the Producers’ Health Benefits Plan. All Participating Employers contribute towards their freelance production team members’ PHBP benefits. As a Participating Employer, you’ll be at the top of the list for the most experienced freelance commercial production teams in the industry. In this day and age, medical benefits are a key consideration when those teams are deciding which offers of employment will get a ‘first hold’ and which will not, which jobs to take and which ones to pass. Participation in the PHBP let’s your freelance production team know you’ve got them covered and provides excellent coverage at affordable prices for your full-time staff employees. *

HOW PARTICIPATION IN FREELANCE COVERAGE WORKS

When PHBP was launched in 2007, it made a commitment to offer free, high quality health insurance to the commercial industry’s freelance production workforce. We are still keeping that promise. As a Participating Employer, you will contribute a low percentage of the daily gross wages of your freelance production team working in covered job categories on the commercials you produce - and only the commercials – PHBP does not accept contributions on music videos, tv, film, documentaries or other non-commercial projects.

PHBP COVERED FREELANCE JOB CATEGORIES

• Executive Producer

• Line Producer

• Production Supervisor

• Assistant Production Supervisor

• Production Assistant

• Bidding Producer

  
  

Participation begins as soon as you sign up with the Plan. There is no waiting period and no fee to participate. Your payroll company will remit the contributions on your behalf, so there is no processing required by you. It couldn’t be any easier.

So where do those contributions go? The funds contributed by Participating Employers are used by the Plan to purchase coverage for eligible Freelancers. When the Freelancer’s aggregated days worked or income earned for work performed in covered job categories for Participating Employers surpasses those needed to meet the eligibility requirements for coverage, the freelance employee is awarded free medical, vision, dental, life, accidental death and dismemberment and both short and long term disability coverage on an annual basis free of charge. Supplemental life insurance and additional Voluntary Benefits are also available. Dependent coverage is offered at highly subsidized rates. Annual Coverage Periods are renewed by continually meeting eligibility requirements on an annual basis.

Freelance coverage remains at the core of the PHBP and freelance contributions are mandatory for all Participating Employers. Once covered, the Plan provides all Freelancers the safety net of banked days or bridge payments to help ensure coverage is maintained, even when the covered worker falls short of meeting the eligibility requirements for renewing coverage.

“We’ve got you covered” is not just a motto, it’s the ethos of the Plan and its Trustees.

COVERAGE FOR YOUR FULL-TIME STAFF EMPLOYEES

Staff coverage is available to those participating employers who participate in freelance coverage and make contributions to the plan for all covered freelance job categories. Exception to the rule is made for Digital, Audio and Post Production employers, as the employment practices of those members might not include the hiring of freelance employees working in PHBP covered job categories.*

As a nationwide large group health plan covering thousands of the commercial industry’s staff and freelance employees and their families, PHBP may be able to provide you and your full-time staff employees with richer benefits at a lower cost than may be obtained in the marketplace.

As a small group employer, you and your employees are likely:

• Paying higher premiums

• Paying higher deductibles

• Paying higher co-pays

• Paying higher co-insurance levels

• Subject to higher out of pocket maximums

• Participating in smaller provider networks with fewer doctors and hospitals to choose from

• Paying higher costs for prescription drugs

• Subject to smaller prescription formularies

PHBP would be happy to provide AICP general member companies a side-by-side comparison of your current staff plan and those offered by PHBP so you can see if switching to PHBP makes sense for your employees’ health care and your bottom line. Reach out to the Plan to arrange a consultation.

HOW STAFF COVERAGE WORKS

While contributions are based on the gross daily wages of your freelancer employees working in covered job categories, staff coverage is paid in full on a monthly basis and your employees may choose from any medical plan offered in their state of residence. The employer must cover at least 51% of the cost of employee only coverage. Dependent contribution levels are at the discretion of the employer. In addition to medical plan coverage, the employer may choose optional vision/dental and life/disability bundles as well. PHBP is partnered with a 3rd party online enrollment specialist who will streamline the enrollment process for you and your employees, significantly reducing the time, energy and resources you need to dedicate to your employee benefits program. The services provided include scheduled, one-on-one phone consultations between your employees and a licensed benefits counselor to help your employees choose which coverage is best for them and their families. This leaves you free to run your business and do what you do best without having to explain the details and nuances of health insurance to your staff.

INSURANCE BENEFITS PROVIDED BY PHBP

• Medical

• Vision

• Dental

• Short Term Disability

• Long Term Disability

• Basic Life and Accidental Death & Dismemberment

• Supplemental Life (for purchase by the employee)

• Employee Assistance Program
  

VOLUNTARY BENEFITS OFFERED BY ANTHEM

• Accident

• Critical Illness

• Hospital Indemnity
  

CONTACT THE PHBP

Email Sean Cooley, PHBP Executive Director at SeanC@PHBP.org for more information, or call the Plan office at 323-647-7427 for a quick chat or a deep dive into the details of the Plan and how PHBP could benefit you, your company and your employees.

* Most, though not all, AICP general members in good standing are eligible to participate in Staff Coverage. Certain restrictions apply. Limited members are not eligible. Contact the PHBP to assess your eligibility for staff coverage. Contact DavidS@aicp for information on joining AICP.