WWE mandates that wrestlers carry insurance, but won't pay for it
by David Bixenspan on May 19, 2011 6:49 PM EDT
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That one site with the spyware is reporting that WWE is now requiring all wrestlers to carry health insurance. In addition, our friend Irv Muchnick has a look at the situation over at his Wrestling Babylon blog. WWE, which pays for on the job injuries, will not be paying for the coverage in any way and doesn't even appear to be setting up a group buy for to ease the burden. Since the wrestlers are officially self-employed independent contractors, they can write off the cost of the insurance as a business expense. Still, it's a burden because it probably won't be easy and they still have to pay completely out of pocket for what will be very expensive insurance thanks to their profession.
It's a strange move, and hard to figure out the reasoning behind. Are they anticipating some scandal (or preparing for the next time one inevitably happens) where they can give a truthful but deceptive answer of "all WWE performers have health insurance"? Is it some kind of reaction to the health care bill passed last year in the US since Vince McMahon has been known to make paranoid references to the election of President Obama leading to the collapse of the economy and thus his business?
I can't really wrap my head around it. Why do it at all so suddenly if they're not gonna pay for it? If they're not going to pay for it, why not pool the talent together to save them a little bit on their premiums?
It should be interesting to see this story unfold over the next couple months.
Please try to keep any political arguments out of the comments. I know this could get touchy but only mention political issues with regards to how they affect or may affect this situation.
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"So mrs. Mcmahon"......
“What exactly are your thoughts about independent contractors?”
Christiane amanpour:
march 11, 2012
"We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again."-Nathanael Greene.
by scorpio_x on May 19, 2011 7:55 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
my thoughts
When I first read about this my first thought was that this was really done as a result of UFC’s insurance announcement.
Why? UFC has employees. WWE has independent contractors. see how they run their businesses differently?
I thought the UFC thing would effect the wrestling business in a way. I didn’t think it would be this quick or this poorly done. I still cannot believe that a pissed off wrestler at the end of his career hasn’t decided to take WWE to court.
Vince could do this himself with just a shirt. All he has to do is make “style x” the insurance shirt and all proceeds of that shirt go to the monthly fees of the wrestlers.
This has been in the works way before UFC's announcement. Meltzer, Scherer, wrestlezone and others confirmed that
This is politically motivated but not for the reasons you think. WWE has pays employee’s that are tax evaders. WWE doesn’t take federal or state taxes out of the paychecks of their performers and I have heard many a story about wrestlers blowing their salary without ever paying a dime in taxes. This is a way to ensure their roster of performers pay taxes every year and shelters them from political attack in future campaigns for senate. It kills two birds with one stone actually and is quite a brilliant business move.
They will no longer have to accept responsibility behind the scenes politically for their 1099’s not paying fed tax and they have a whole roster of insured wrestlers.
Getting health insurance for yourself is not a burden. Millions of Americans do it so why can’t wrestlers? Wrestlers have gotten insurance for themselves for MANY MANY MANY years! The reasoning behind most wrestlers not doing so is that only Main Eventers make enough money to get health insurance. This is not true as anyone who has ever had a job knows you can get full medical coverage or tailor the coverage for your particular financial needs. I have been a 1099 tax payer for a decade and I have never had a problem finding insurance and my insurance is better than my wife who had insurance through her job.
In comparison, her job only pays for a group plan that includes primary care. No dental, no hospital stay, no child coverage. On the other hand I was able to get full coverage. She switched to my plan after we got married. I am able to significantly off set the cost of insurance through tax returns. So not all jobs pay for the best insurance an employee can get.
At this point in history, there is no reasonable excuse for any main roster WWE wrestler to not have his/her own insurance. If you are making over 80-100k per year, you can buy insurance.
Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitudes...
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