EP Cares™ Support

To be eligible for EP Cares, you must be working for a project/show that offers EP Cares insurance and you must be listed as Full Time. Generally, you must also be working as a non-union, W2 employee as well.

You should have received an EP Cares Welcome Guide from your production company upon hire and you should also get an email from myepcares@ep.com within about 3 weeks after you start working. Generally, the email goes to the email you listed on your start paperwork.

If you don’t see either of those things but think you may be eligible, please contact us at myepcares@ep.com or 855.339.7350. You should include your full name, project/show, last four digits of your SSN and your start date so we can verify eligibility.

The IRS has rules regarding when one may add, drop, or make changes to benefits. Presuming you are eligible for EP Cares benefits, you can enroll during the following periods:

1. New Hire – First of the month following a 30-calendar-day waiting period. For example, if your first day of work is March 3, you would be eligible for benefits on May 1.
2. Open Enrollment – Open enrollment is generally held during the last two weeks of November. Any benefit selections made during this time take effect on January 1 of the following year.
3. Rehire – If you are rehired at the same studio/parent company within 90 days, rehire rules apply. You should receive an email from myepcares@ep.com with enrollment information, but feel free to contact us.
4. Qualifying Life Event – Involuntary loss of other group insurance (including turning 26 and losing your parents’ coverage), birth of a child, marriage, divorce, and other life events count as a QLE that may qualify you to add, drop, or make changes to your benefits. Click here for more information.

Eligibility criteria applies, and you must still be actively employed by the production company/studio as of the date your benefits would go live in order for your enrollment selections to be effective.

EP Payroll – Your share of the insurance costs will be withheld on a pre-tax basis from your paychecks. Generally, the deductions are withheld from the first two paychecks of the month. For example, if you owe $250 per month, $125 will be withheld from your first paycheck and $125 will be withheld from your second paycheck. If you are paid weekly, you would have $0 deducted from the final two checks in a standard month. These are general guidelines; exceptions apply. For your specific scenario, please contact us at epcares@ep.com or 818-955-6022.

Other Payroll Company – If your payroll does not go through Entertainment Partners, you will pay your share through our Direct Bill partner, Wex Health. Please see our Payment Guide for more information.

Generally, your insurance will end on the last day of the month after you wrap or are no longer working for the project/show. However, if you move to a different project/show within the same studio or parent company, please contact us as at myepcares@ep.com as your insurance should follow you.

Your insurance will also end if you fail to pay your share of the cost of benefits within the month it is due, or if you move to a union or non-affiliate position.

Please see our COBRA FAQs.

Generally, members of unions and people working in non-affiliate positions are ineligible for EP Cares, so your active benefits will end on the last day of the month in which you stop working as a non-union worker.

Unfortunately, COBRA laws are very specific, and there are only two “qualifying events” for COBRA (termination of employment or reduction of hours). Since employees moving to union positions are experiencing neither of those events, those people going to union jobs are ineligible for COBRA benefits. If you need replacement insurance while you are in your waiting period for union benefits, please see our COBRA FAQ for alternatives.

Line 15 indicates the amount you would pay IF you had enrolled in insurance at the lowest cost plan, employee-only benefit. It is used by the IRS to calculate whether the employer offered you “affordable” healthcare.

It does not mean that you paid that amount (or any amount) and it does not indicate that you were enrolled in your employer’s benefits plan.

To further decode the 1095-C form, look at line 16. Code 2C means you were enrolled in coverage. Code 2E means you were eligible for insurance through a multi-employer (union) plan. All of the other codes on line 16 mean you were not enrolled in insurance through that employer. Full definitions are available here.

If you still have questions about your 1095-C form, click here for FAQs or call the phone number listed in Box 10 of the form.