Entertainment · Celebrity · 4 hrs ago
Cheyenne Jackson’s campaign highlights actors’ struggle to qualify for health insurance
Cheyenne Jackson launched One Job Away on Instagram to help actors find work.
The campaign features performers who are close to meeting the earnings requirement for SAG-AFTRA health insurance.
Actors generally need to earn $28,000 in a year to qualify for the union’s health plan.
Jackson says he was $6,000 short in 2025, until Kathy Bates helped him get a small role on Matlock.
He hopes casting directors and others will hire actors featured in the campaign, which has drawn hundreds of requests.
Fewer acting jobs are making it harder to qualify, as scripted television orders have fallen and productions move elsewhere.
From January 1, the earnings threshold and quarterly premiums will rise, with further threshold increases planned in later years.
Cheyenne Jackson launched the “One Job Away” campaign to help actors close to qualifying for SAG-AFTRA health insurance find work.
Actors generally need $28,000 in annual earnings to qualify for the union’s health plan.
Jackson said he received hundreds of messages from actors seeking to be featured within 24 hours of launching the campaign.
He said that in 2025 he fell $6,000 short of the earnings threshold, but Kathy Bates helped him get a role on Matlock.
The campaign comes amid reports of fewer acting jobs, which can leave performers at risk of losing health coverage.
- Who
- Actor Cheyenne Jackson launched the campaign for fellow SAG-AFTRA actors who are close to qualifying for health insurance.
- What
- The “One Job Away” series shares actors’ profiles to help them find work that could help them meet the earnings threshold.
- When
- Jackson launched it on Monday morning, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The articles were published on October 26, 2026.
- Where
- Jackson launched the campaign on Instagram.
- Why
- Actors need $28,000 in annual earnings to qualify for the SAG-AFTRA health plan, and some are struggling to find enough work to meet that threshold.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Jackson said he was $6,000 short of the insurance earnings threshold and Kathy Bates helped him get a role on Matlock.
Actor Jack Haven said they needed $4,000 by the end of the month to qualify for SAG health insurance starting in January.
Jackson launched the “One Job Away” campaign on Instagram.
Jackson said he had received hundreds of messages from actors asking to be featured.
- Campaign
- One Job Away
- Founder
- Cheyenne Jackson
- Annual earnings threshold
- $28,000
- Jackson’s shortfall in 2025
- $6,000
- Profiles reported by the Independent
- 22 actors
2 sources
What people are saying
This is systemic. This is like across the whole swath of SAG actors working right now.
I know what it feels like to be one job away… and what it means when someone actually comes through.
I need to make $4,000 by the end of the month in order to qualify for SAG health insurance starting in January.