Musicians to Inaugurate Health-Benefit Plan : Welfare: ‘Grammy Week’ starts tonight with a dinner to raise seed money for a new program for uninsured members of the music industry.

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences opens its “Grammy Week” activities in New York with tonight’s announcement of a new health-care program for uninsured musicians.

This evening’s black-tie dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, a prelude to the Feb. 20 Grammy Award presentation, will be used to raise seed money for the academy’s MUSICARES health-benefit system.

“There are a lot of extraordinary musicians out there right now walking around in desperate need of dentures or eyeglasses, or worse yet, in need of some serious operation that they simply cannot afford,” said Michael Greene, president of the recording academy. “The independent nature of this profession promises very little in the way of financial security.”

Singer-songwriter David Crosby--who will be honored at tonight’s banquet for his participation in the MUSICARES drug-rehab awareness program--echoed Greene’s concerns.

“The music industry isn’t just about instant gratification, glitz and glamour,” said Crosby, whose well-publicized substance-abuse problems led to him to be jailed in 1986 on drug and weapons charges in Texas. “Industry executives need to acknowledge that a very dark seamy underbelly to the business exists and that many musicians get caught up in it.”

Musicians, unlike employees in the film industry, have no access to a joint, industry-sponsored insurance program or pension plan. But Greene said the new academy-related program will change that.

“This a very serious problem,” Greene said. “I understand that there is no quick fix, but this industry knows how to apply itself when it wants to. In the past, music executives have lent considerable support to addressing environmental, political and social issues and now it’s time to show some responsibility in taking care of their own.”

MUSICARES officials are in the midst of designing a comprehensive service system modeled after the Motion Picture and Television Health and Welfare Fund, a program that provides eligible film industry employees with insurance benefits, as well as access to hospital, outpatient clinic and retirement facilities. Currently, in order to qualify for health-care benefits, members of the musicians union must earn at least $600 a year. Benefits for eligible parties are paid for by employers, who contribute a percentage of the musician’s wage into a health and welfare fund.

Greene said his organization is currently holding talks with the American Federation of Musicians and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and hopes to establish a funding mechanism to underwrite the new health care program by July.

“It’s time for the industry to begin showing some respect for the long-term health needs of the artistic community,” Greene said. “Up until now, recording artists have often been discarded like disposable paper plates.”