Cecily Strong called on SAG-AFTRA and President Sean Astin to address members’ concerns over the union’s new insurance polices around mental health, decrying in an Instagram post Wednesday that changes made earlier this year have led to “super high bills that are no longer being covered in the same way.”
“Mental health services are HUGELY important in our industry,” the “Saturday Night Live” and “Schmigadoon!” alum said. “Many of us have been with our amazing, invaluable, out of network therapists for years and found out recently that in January of this year the ‘allowed amount’ for these services dropped dramatically leaving many of us with super high bills that are no longer being covered in the same way.”
In January, SAG-AFTRA changed from Carelon Behavioral Health to Anthem for the union health plan’s behavioral health provider network, which unified mental health and medical healthcare under one umbrella and advertised at the time a larger choice of behavioral health providers.
According to the SAG-AFTRA website‘s October 2025 breakdown of the change, members receiving mental health care in-network at the end of 2025 who would fall out-of-network with continued care with the same provider under the new plan could “qualify for a Transition of Care period of up to 90 days at in-network benefit levels.”
Still, the change apparently caught many members by surprise and led to higher bills and less reimbursement for their 2026 mental health care.
“Many of us didn’t know this change would be happening and so didn’t budget for our therapy or mental health services becoming out of pocket expenses, equaling hundreds to thousands of dollars a month,” Strong continued. “I know my privilege, for sure, but I also know I’m not alone here.”
Strong’s Instagram post featured a screenshot of a letter from the union explaining the move from Carelon to Anthem and why impacted members’ medical bills may look different than expected. Strong clarified that the letter wasn’t hers and she’s “still waiting on my letter to explain my drastically smaller reimbursement amounts from therapy which has been invaluable to my life, especially postpartum.”
“Please please please fix this for us. I know health insurance is a damn cruel battle in this country and this is one tiny part of it, but I believe in our union and our union’s dedication to protecting actors.”
Read the full post below:
“Please make this right and protect our mental health services,” the actress’ post concluded. “A good therapist/doctor/social worker can be life changing and more importantly — life-saving.”
Strong has become a vocal mental health advocate in recent years while candidly sharing her own experience with depression, anxiety and grief, notably with her 2021 memoir “This Will All Be Over Soon.”
Representatives for SAG-AFTRA did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
