Health Insurance Coverage for Doctoral Students at the CUNY Graduate Center
Doctoral students at the Graduate Center who meet certain conditions will become eligible for health insurance coverage starting in January 2009. The health insurance will be made available through the Student Employee Health Insurance Program (SEPH) component of the New York State Health Insurance Program. Graduate Center doctoral students will join SUNY doctoral students in the Student Employee Health Insurance Program and will receive the same coverage.
Who is eligible?
Three basic requirements must be met for Graduate Center students to be eligible for the health insurance coverage. First, the students must be matriculated in a doctoral program at the Graduate Center. Second, they must be employed at CUNY as Graduate Assistants A, B, or C or as adjuncts (teaching- or non-teaching or as CLT’s). And third, they must earn at least $4,112 a year in one of those titles. If they are employed for just one semester, they must earn at least $2,061 to be eligible.
Adjuncts (or non-teaching adjuncts) are eligible in the semester in which they are teaching or otherwise working, as long as they earn at least the minimum amount for plan coverage.
Students who are enrolled in the health insurance plan in the spring semester will be covered over the summer as long as there is an expectation that they will remain eligible in the fall.
Doctoral students who are appointed in one of the relevant job titles by a CUNY community college will need to switch to the state payroll (administered through the Graduate Center) to be eligible for health insurance coverage (rather than the city payroll of the community colleges). To make this switch, please contact Anne Ellis (aellis@gc.cuny.edu or 212-817-7284).
What if I have questions about my eligibility?
If you have questions about whether you are eligible, please contact Anne Ellis, the Associate Director of Graduate Assistant Programs in the Provost’s office. She can be reached at aellis@gc.cuny.edu or by phone at 212-817-7284.
How much does the plan cost?
In Fall 2008, the premium was set at a bi-weekly rate of $5.44 for individual students and a bi-weekly rate of $46.25 for family coverage (with coverage possible for spouses, domestic partners, and children). The money will be automatically deducted from the enrolled students’ bi-weekly paychecks. The plan is heavily subsidized by the state of New York and the CUNY Chancellery.
What does the plan cover?
For full information on plan coverage, follow this link to the NYSHIP web site:
http://www.cs.state.ny.us/ebd/ebdonlinecenter/gseu/bensum08.cfm
If you have questions about the coverage, you can visit the NYSHIP web site or you can contact Elise Perram, Associate Director of Student Affairs at 212-817-7400 (eperram@gc.cuny.edu).
The Graduate Center will sponsor two open meetings with plan representatives so that they can answer coverage questions directly. The dates of the meetings will be announced soon.
How and when do I sign up?
We anticipate that students will be able to enroll in the plan on line and that the open enrollment period will occur during November 2008.
Students who become eligible through a Spring 2009 appointment—whether as adjuncts or as graduate assistants—but who were not employed in one of these titles in the fall will be able to obtain health insurance coverage starting on the first day of their appointment. For teaching adjuncts, this will be January26,2009. For non-teaching adjuncts and for graduate assistants, it will be February 1, 2009.
For students who are in continuing employment and who enroll in a timely fashion, we anticipate that coverage will start on January 1, 2009.
Information for international students
Students who plan to take on CUNY employment in the Spring 2009 semester need to make sure that they have Social Security numbers. These are a necessary precondition to students obtaining employment. International students who currently have Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TINs) but who plan to seek CUNY employment should contact the Human Resources office for guidance on how to proceed.
