The university offers a useful .pdf that will give you all the information you need to register for your health insurance. That file can be accessed here. If you want more information on the premiums, that information can be found here.
However, there is some information that you should be aware of that is not covered in the above .pdfs. The list below includes important information that will help you attain and understand your health insurance coverage.
- There are currently four different health insurance options for TAs and RAs at Temple University. All of these are free for TAs and RAs with a full appointment other than the Keystone High Option. The Keystone High Option will cost you about $30 a month. TUGSA recommends that only those with health problem that require regular doctor and hospital visits take the high option. For many graduate students, the mid-level option is a fine choice and is free to anyone with a full (20 hour) appointment. The two lower options (Keystone Low Option and Basic Personal Choice) should not be chosen unless you have a dependent to cover and are looking to save some money. Otherwise, the Mid-Option is the best free package available.
- Independence Blue Cross (ibx) offers you the option of having your healthcare premiums removed directly from your bank account. If you do have premiums (for example, if you have the High Option or are covering a dependent) TUGSA recommends that you not take advantage of this option. In the event that Temple University does not process your health care or employment information correctly or in a timely fashion, having taken advantage of this option will result in your full monthly stipend (as much as $760) being removed from your bank account without notice.
- You are not obligated to fax your appointment letter / work contract to labor relations or to Temple’s benefits department in order to receive health care coverage. However, doing some can sometimes expedite the process. Not having sent this fax will not prevent you from receiving health care coverage. However, TUGSA recommends doing so anyway in order to be in the safest possible position.
- All health care coverage is for a full 12 months regardless of whether you are working for Temple University in the summer semesters. In a number of the 2011-2012 contracts there is a misprint indicating that some healthcare plans only cover you for the 9 months of the Fall and Spring semesters, but this is an error. All health insurance plans cover you for 12 months.
- If you have a partial appointment (for example, if your assignment is only for 10 hours then this is a half-appointment) then your healthcare is also halved. For the 2011-2012 academic year, the subsidy for full time appointments is $343.20. This means that for a half-appointment, the subsidy would be $171.60. If you do not have a full (20 hour) appointment, please keep this fact in mind when selecting your health insurance plan.
- You have to re-enroll for your insurance every year. While we hope that at some point we will find a way to have rolling re-enrollment, this is not currently possible. Therefore, even if you were an employee last year and had the same health insurance plan last year, you must still re-enroll this year.
If you have problems signing up for your healthcare coverage, or if you have questions about how your healthcare works, you have several options. First, you are always welcome to contact TUGSA and we can answer many questions for you. However, you can also contact Temple University’s benefits department who can also answer many questions for you.
If you do have problems with your health insurance, TUGSA wants to know about it! We can only get problems resolved in future semesters if we know that problems occurred this semester. Therefore, any problems that you have with your health insurance should be reported to TUGSA.
TUGSA encourages all TAs and RAs to take advantage of the health care that TUGSA has negotiated for you. It is your contractual right to have this coverage and there is no reason to turn it down!