In a state where most working musicians are self-employed, two Texas nonprofits are quietly keeping the music alive by making health insurance affordable.
In Austin, the model is HAAM — the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians. Launched in 2005 to support the city’s low-income, uninsured working musicians, HAAM doesn’t provide insurance itself. Instead, it connects musicians to care and subsidizes the monthly premiums for plans purchased through the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
To fund the roughly $4 million program, it works with Central Health, a public agency that provides healthcare resources for low-income residents of Austin and surrounding Travis County. Many performing artists pay $0 toward monthly premiums.
The system works like this: HAAM members must enroll in a silver-level plan through Sendero Health Plans. For members with incomes between one and two times the federal poverty level, Central Health pays the remaining premium after federal tax credits. Higher-income members get a 50% subsidy from HAAM.
Membership is free for working music professionals — including musicians, DJs and teachers — and also provides access to free or discounted dental, vision, hearing, and mental health services. Each year, HAAM raises money with HAAM Day, a citywide festival with bands playing in grocery stores, parks, and even on the Texas Capitol steps.
In Denton, a college town north of Dallas that has produced artists from Meat Loaf to Norah Jones, leaders saw a similar crisis: graduates and longtime residents were leaving because they couldn’t afford to stay and make music.
The Denton Music and Arts Collaborative took HAAM’s idea and adapted it. It connects members with an independent insurance agent to find the best marketplace plan, then offers a flat $100 monthly subsidy.
“The subsidies are a way of keeping Denton’s culture of jazz and ‘weird art rock’ alive,” said president Jennifer Kapinos.
The model is now spreading beyond music. In 2025, Good Work Austin launched a small pilot with Central Health to help local restaurant workers enroll and cover premiums — proof that what started as a musician’s safety net is becoming a template for Austin’s creative workforce.