[…]I reached out to Alex Maiolo, who is a musician and a health insurance consultant for the Future of Music Coalition, and he had some specific advice: “Insure for the worst case scenario.” Maiolo suggests that young, healthy musicians without families get plans with higher deductibles, because what you want is a stop loss for catastrophic and emergency situations. “It’s going to be easier for musicians to come up with the $5,000 deductible payment via benefit concerts, ” says Maiolo, “rather than half a million dollars for uninsured treatment after the fact.”

While it would be lovely to have some real carte blanche PPO plan and pay $10 for a doctor visit, he suggests a high deductable can take $50-80 off your payment a month and maybe you pay $30 for a doctor visit instead. Maiolo says that given that most musicians are young and relatively healthy, regular wellness visits are not why you should be buying a plan. Also, most any plan is going to cover emergencies regardless of whether they happen at home or on the road.