Wrestlers work tirelessly, often exceeding the efforts of writers or painters.
Unfortunately, WWE Superstars don’t qualify for health insurance; as independent contractors rather than employees.
That means the McMahons can save money by forgoing health benefits for their wrestlers – one of the main factors why so many die so early.
1. The Wrestlers Can Afford It
Professional wrestling is a physically taxing occupation which often results in serious injuries. Health insurance is therefore an invaluable investment for professional wrestlers, so finding affordable health insurance options like Provider 1 is crucial to finding coverage that meets their needs and meets budget constraints. Provider 1 understands that sport can be dangerous, offering comprehensive plans with coverage for doctor visits, hospital stays, surgeries, prescription medication costs and out-of-pocket maximums to suit various financial situations – while offering various deductibles premiums and out-of-pocket maximums to give wrestlers plenty of flexibility and peace of mind for both mental health needs and body injuries during matches between bouts.
Wrestlers must contend with both physical and mental strain when performing on a consistent basis and upholding larger-than-life personas. Travel and performance pressure can take its toll, leading to exhaustion that increases injury risks. Therefore, rest and recovery time between shows should be sufficient in order to avoid becoming overtired and injuring themselves.
Professional wrestlers face an increased death rate compared to athletes from other professional sports leagues, as was revealed during a segment on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Part of this may be attributed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) classifying its performers as independent contractors rather than employees, which allows it to forgo providing benefits such as health insurance for its performers; therefore, those wanting to remain part of WWE must purchase individual policies–an expensive proposition when earning millions per year!
WWE’s refusal to provide health insurance may discourage wrestlers from seeking medical help when injured, fearing that any costs related to treatment may interfere with their bottom line. Unfortunately, early diagnosis and treatment of injuries can help minimize their effects.
AEW promises a much better deal to its wrestlers by treating them as employees instead of independent contractors, helping ensure they receive medical coverage as necessary while also making them an attractive workplace for talent.
2. The WWE Can’t Afford It
WWE does not provide its talent with health insurance coverage, which has long been a point of contention with fans who have expressed displeasure with them and one reason wrestlers often discuss unionizing so that they may receive all the same benefits that other employees do in the workplace.
The WWE provides coverage for wrestlers injured at live events, since this can often be cheaper than directly paying individual health insurance policies for each talent member. For instance, fixing broken legs at events can cost thousands of dollars.
Medical expenses can quickly add up when an athlete is hit by a car on their way to or during a move, making a serious impactful statement about WWE’s ability and desire to provide its talent with proper care. Even adding these costs into annual payroll would wreak havoc with their financial position – this simply isn’t economically viable for them!
WWE does care for their performers; indeed, the company helps in various ways when an injured performer attends live shows. Unfortunately, however, they cannot provide health insurance in the same way that it provides other benefits, like money for travel expenses, free ring hire or an ambulance that’s officially company-leased.
Some fans are frustrated that WWE talent don’t make enough to afford healthcare on their own, citing how millions in income should cover that expense. However, it should be remembered that most wrestling talent are not that wealthy – most of their WWE paychecks go straight to agents; there’s also clothing, travel costs and other expenses they incur during their career which come out of that money pool.
Once all extra costs have been deducted from your budget, you’re left with more than enough money to buy an adequate health insurance plan. There are places around the world where it is possible to acquire such coverage for just a couple thousand dollars; which will likely be cheaper than getting individual healthcare from an employer who provides it as part of their employee benefits package.
3. The Smaller Promotions Can’t Afford It
WWE has come under criticism from wrestling fans for not offering health insurance to their wrestlers, with the company citing that providing coverage would cost too much due to having thousands of employees work under them.
However, things are more complicated than that; WWE offers their talent a competitive salary which allows most wrestlers to live comfortably and give them the option of purchasing health insurance or not.
Wrestlers who opt to get health insurance may find they end up making less overall than they currently do, since producing wrestling can be very costly and the smaller promotions cannot afford paying for health coverage for their wrestlers.
Reason being, they incur additional expenses such as rent, equipment and production costs. Furthermore, wrestlers are typically hired on an as-needed basis – in other words they receive payment after each match they perform in; meaning there will no accrued sick days or vacation time to use up.
Independent promotions must rely on GoFundMe as a solution when their talent are injured or sick, yet even when successful in raising enough money through this route it may not cover everything; even when successful it often doesn’t cover enough bills that quickly stack up.
There are a few promotions that do offer health insurance to their wrestlers, though these instances tend to be rarer. WWE and ROH only provide this coverage for full-time employees rather than freelancers or part-timers.
Since All Elite Wrestling’s launch, speculation about whether or not their wrestlers would receive health insurance has dominated online discussions since. Young Buck initiated this speculation when he quoted Nick Jackson as saying on Twitter, “Wrestlers need benefits”. In response to that quote and subsequent speculation that All Elite Wrestling may provide health coverage as part of its benefits package – which would mark a stark difference from how major promotions typically treat their wrestlers as independent contractors rather than employees.
4. The Independent Circuit Can’t Afford It
Reality can vary significantly for those not reaching superstar status in wrestling. While wrestling may be considered a job, its performance aspect can put immense physical strain on one’s body – often leading to serious and potentially life-threatening injuries.
Death rates among wrestling performers outpace those seen among professional athletes from other leagues due to most wrestling promoters not providing health insurance to their talent – the billion-dollar WWE and major upstart All Elite Wrestling, for instance, treat their stars as independent contractors rather than employees so as to circumvent providing benefits.
Outside major promotions, wrestling doesn’t pay enough to cover healthcare for even top performers. Smaller indie promotions typically sell tickets to just several hundred people at once – wrestlers may work at multiple promotions in an average year – meaning injuries often require time off work and can result in significant financial setbacks when forced to miss income-generating gigs due to absence or disability leave.
There’s good news for wrestlers in need: fans often step forward to help. A quick search of 411Mania for “wrestler” returns 102 articles highlighting GoFundMe campaigns dedicated to wrestlers; other resources offer similar information. When indie cult favorite Danhausen broke his leg moonsaulting in Seattle, fans showed up in support to buy his merchandise and assist.
Still, this kind of system is unsustainable as healthcare costs continue to soar; an independent wrestler cannot hope to save up enough for emergency healthcare expenses should they get injured; furthermore, severe injuries often require surgery that may keep an athlete out for extended periods. Travel sports insurance policies offer coverage which helps alleviate some of these unforeseen medical costs for insured athletes; either as an add-on rider to their primary policy or purchased individually.