Effective October 1, 2014, the eligibility criteria for health insurance through the New York City Health Benefits Program, as set forth in the Concluding Agreement on Adjunct Health Insurance, dated July 30, 2014, are as follows:
a) In order to qualify for health insurance benefits:
- Teaching Adjuncts—must be teaching six or more contact hours in the semester, or an equivalent combination of teaching and non-teaching hours, and must have taught one or more courses for the two consecutive preceding semesters (not including Summer Sessions).
- Non-Teaching Adjuncts—who are working fifteen or more hours per week in the semester, or an equivalent combination of teaching and non-teaching hours, and who have worked fifteen or more hours per week for the two consecutive preceding semesters (not including Winter or Summer Sessions). (For the purpose of determining eligibility for health insurance only, one non-teaching hour shall be deemed equivalent to 0.4 teaching contact hour.)
- Substitute service immediately preceded by and immediately followed by adjunct service shall be counted as continuous adjunct service for the purpose of determining eligibility for health insurance benefits under this section.
- Adjuncts who receive health insurance for the Fall semester only will receive coverage for the period from the first day of the Fall semester through the following February 28 (February 29 in a leap year). The first day of the Fall semester is the day after the end of the teaching faculty annual leave period as calculated pursuant to Article 14.1 of the PSC-CUNY Collective Bargaining Agreement. Adjuncts who receive health insurance for the Spring semester only will receive coverage for the period from the first day of the Spring semester through the following July 31. Adjuncts who receive health insurance coverage during both the Fall and Spring semesters of a given academic year will continue to receive coverage through the end of the annual leave period as defined in Article 14.1 of the PSC-CUNY Collective Bargaining Agreement.
- Eligibility as provided in this section shall be based on CUNY-wide service.
b) Adjuncts are not eligible for City Health Benefits if they are eligible to receive other primary health care insurance provided by or through another source. Adjuncts must certify each semester that they are not eligible to receive other primary health care insurance provided by or through another source.
Doctoral student employees who are eligible to receive primary health care insurance through NYSHIP will not be eligible for City Health Benefits.
c) Adjuncts who establish eligibility for health insurance benefits shall be eligible to receive benefits in the third consecutive semester. An adjunct shall lose eligibility if, in any semester, he/she teaches for fewer than six contact hours or works for fewer than 15 non-teaching hours per week, or a combined equivalent.
Even though coverage may be lost for a semester because current hours are too low, the two-semester continuity requirement will be deemed to have been met until there is a semester in each of two out of three consecutive academic years wherein a previously eligible individual is not employed as an adjunct by CUNY. Then a break occurs and the initial eligibility requirements, including the two-semester continuity requirement, must be re-established in order to be covered for benefits.
Effective with the start of the 2016-2017 academic year, adjuncts who previously held Graduate Assistant appointments with coverage under the New York State Health Insurance Program and who were subsequently appointed as adjuncts without a break in service shall be eligible to elect health coverage under the New York City Health Benefits Program without the prior two-consecutive-semester service requirement, provided that they meet all other eligibility requirements.
