Out of Pocket Healthcare Fund
The GSOC Healthcare Working Group is pleased to report to you that the application process to the Union’s Graduate Employee Health Insurance Support Fund for out-of-pocket expenses, which represents one of our most significant wins in the last negotiations, is now open. The deadline to apply is November 1, 2024. For specific questions on any of these subjects, please contact us at gsoc@2110uaw.org.
Who is eligible?
Any graduate student who has worked in a union position during the Academic Year 2023–2024 and has been enrolled in an NYU health insurance plan is eligible. This includes Fall Semester, J-Term, Spring Semester, and the Summer Terms.
What is covered?
The Fund covers any out-of-pocket medical expenses (as defined by IRS regulations) incurred under the Student Health Insurance Plan and dental services incurred under the Stu-Dent Plan.
What is the benefits schedule?
For AY 2023-2024, the Fund consists of $400,000—a figure that will grow in each successive year of the contract. In coming up with its proposals for a benefits schedule, including the one that was eventually accepted in one of the membership meetings by a vote, the Healthcare Working Group aimed to balance universality and progressivity with the constraints of the Fund’s size.
Benefits will be disbursed according to a five-cluster model as follows:
| Cluster | Expenditure Range | Maximum Reimbursement |
| Low | $0-500 | $50 |
| Low-Medium | $501-1,000 | $100 |
| Medium | $1,001-3,000 | $130 |
| Medium-High | $3,001-5,000 | $500 |
| High | > $5,000 | $1000 |
The figures above were arrived at through a survey of the membership’s healthcare needs that was conducted during our contract negotiations in 2021. If the Fund is not exhausted by the applications, claims will be fulfilled in descending order up to 50% of the amount until the Fund is exhausted.
We wish to stress that, in keeping with our commitment to democratic unionism, the benefits schedule for the Fund will be subject to a yearly revision and membership vote. The data we will gather in this first year will help inform how to improve on the current distribution structure.
What does an application require?
The application for the Fund requires the filling out a form, which can be accessed here. The form will ask you for your full name, N-number, and date of birth. All other relevant information will be provided to the Union by the University at a later stage.
When will benefits be disbursed?
Applications will be collected up until November 1. We estimate that reimbursements will be sent out roughly a month after that date.
We wish to acknowledge that the waiting period for applications is rather long, especially for those whose expenses were incurred several months ago. While lamentable, the Healthcare Working Group believed it was necessary to cast as wide a net as possible in the pilot version of the Fund, because the Fund cannot be distributed on a rolling basis with the information we have. With an initial history of applications, we hope to be able to improve the disbursement schedule in the subsequent iterations of the Fund.
We are excited to finally implement this much-awaited benefit from our new contract. Once again, if there are any outstanding questions, concerns, or comments, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at gsoc@2110uaw.org.