Musicians willing to discuss health care.

     We are creating a documentary film about Musicians and their access to affordable health care in the U.S..

     If you are willing to speak on camera, tell us whether or not you have health insurance, and how this has impacted you or your family, please contact us. This video is strictly not for profit, and there is no financial compensation for speaking with us.

The Musicians Project is not religious, political or partisan in any way.

For a Free Dowload of Silence is Consent click here!

*Look for us at The Garden State Film Festival in March, 2010!

Check out our YouTube Page

Our inspiration for the Musicians Project:

Jay Bennett, (November 15, 1963 - May 24, 2009) founding member of Titanic Love Affair, multi instrumentalist for the band Wilco, and successful solo artist, dead at 45. Bennett died unexpectedly in his sleep, the result of an overdose of the prescription painkiller fentanyl. Bennett publicly revealed that he needed hip replacement surgery which he could not afford due to his health insurance company considering his damaged hip a "pre-existing condition."

Vic Chesnutt, (November 12, 1964 – December 25, 2009) folk-rocker, paralyzed by a car wreck at the age of 18, died on Christmas Day, 2009. He was 45. According to Rolling Stone, “Chesnutt gained national prominence thanks to 1996’s Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Situation, which featured Smashing Pumpkins, R.E.M., Garbage and more bands covering his songs to raise money for the Sweet Relief charity, which aids musicians in need of health care.” Chesnutt had recently struggled with medical bills totaling in the tens of thousands, even though he had health insurance, and lived his last days in fear, as he was being sued by the hospital.

Joaquin Rivera, 63, a popular Philadelphia musician and mentor, died in the waiting room at the Frankford Hospital in Philly of hypertensive heart disease. Thirty-nine minutes later, one of three people in the waiting room stole Rivera's watch, the security tape showed. According to the police, hospital workers walked by him several times, and nearly 50 minutes after Rivera stopped moving, hospital personnel noticed he appeared to be dead.

Goth Musician Belinda Bach, 28, passed away after receiving a liver transplant at the UCLA Medical Center. She never regained consciousness and was removed from life support on November 12, 2007 after being declared brain dead. She died as a result of the inadequacies of the health care system, according to her mother, who stated that Belinda was repeatedly denied health insurance coverage because of chronic health problems.

For more information about Belinda's story, check out the following sites.

www.spankyandourgang.com
www.belindasstory.com