It's hard to believe that its been eight years since FMC's original survey on musicians and health insurance. That oft-cited study, published in 2002, showed that 44 percent of working musicians did not have insurance. One of the barriers, besides cost, was that the topic is difficult to wrap your mind around. To help demystify the issue, we created the Health Insurance Navigation Tool (HINT) — a free program that offers jargon-free information to musicians seeking to learn more about their health insurance options.

Fast-forward to 2010: health care is now a matter of serious debate across the country. FMC has advocated for reform, and we're still very much committed to arming musicians with information so they can make smart choices.

But we also want to know if anything has changed since our initial report. Which is why we've relaunched the survey to learn:

• How many musicians are insured?
• Has the number increased or decreased over the last eight years?
• What are the factors that make it difficult for musicians to get insured?
• Do musicians know about the plans offered by some unions and professional organizations?

Taking the Pulse runs from March 1 through April 1, 2010, and assesses the level of health insurance among working musicians. It also asks key questions about artists' access to coverage and their understanding of the current health insurance landscape.

If you're a musician, songwriter, or composer, please take the 10 short minutes to answer these important questions. Remember, your responses are anonymous and confidential.

And help us spread the word! You can use this blurb in your blogs and newsletters:
Are you a musician or songwriter? Do you have health insurance? The nonprofit Future of Music Coalition is conducting an online survey during the month of March to assess how many musicians have health insurance. Click here to participate in this survey. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/musicianshealthinsurance

Your answers are anonymous and confidential, and the survey should take about 10 minutes to complete. We urge you to participate so we can really understand the needs of our music community.
Here's something you drop in Facebook and MySpace status updates:
Are you a musician or songwriter? Do you have health insurance? Future of Music Coalition wants to know. Take this short survey and tell them about it. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/musicianshealthinsurance

And here's a 20-character message for Twitter — the perfect length for re-tweeting:
Are you a musician or songwriter? Do you have health insurance? Take this quick & important survey.http://bit.ly/c7ZJZi

We'll keep you in the loop on the results and our ongoing efforts to help musicians stay healthy.