Benefits
As a UFT member, you have one of the best health-benefits packages anywhere.
At a time when many workers have no health benefits and higher costs are leading many employers to reduce existing benefits, the union has maintained the quality of benefits and even made improvements.
As a full-time teacher, you are entitled to:
- A choice of health plans, which city unions jointly negotiate for their members. There is a health plan for every need, from free plans like HIP or basic GHI to a range of plans that allow you to choose your own physicians.
- Supplemental benefits such as dental, optical, hearing and prescription drug coverage provided by the union through the UFT Welfare Fund.
- Optional additional benefits through our state and national affiliates, NYSUT and AFT.
Together, these benefits represent savings to you worth thousands of dollars a year.
Insurance Health Benefits
Although you are covered from your first day of work, you must enroll
in a health plan within 30 days of your first day on payroll. If you are
not happy with your health plan, you can switch next year or any other year
(during open enrollment). Some key points:
Your plan provides hospitalization and medical coverage for you, your spouse
or domestic partner, and your unmarried dependent children under 19 (full-time
students are covered to age 23 with proof of college registration).
Remember to ask about tax consequences related to domestic partner coverage.
How to sign up for health insurance benefits
UFT Welfare Fund Benefits
UFT Welfare Fund benefits plans cover you, your spouse or domestic partner, and your eligible dependents. These plans include:
- Prescription Drug Plan. This plan covers prescription drugs (but not those sold over the counter).
– Be sure to save receipts for prescription drugs you paid for before
receiving your drug card so you can be reimbursed.
– When you need to fill a prescription, go to a participating pharmacy,
show your UFT drug card, and pay a co-payment.
– If you need to use drugs over a long period of time (known as “maintenance
drugs”) you have two options for getting a 90-day supply:
- Go to a local Retail Maintenance Network pharmacy or
- Use the Mail Order Delivery option, which is convenient and less expensive when using brand-name drugs. For this option, get mail order envelopes from your chapter leader or by calling the Welfare Fund Hotline at 1-212-539-0539.
- The UFT Welfare Fund Drug formulary is a great tool for understanding whether a prescription drug is covered and how to obtain it. The formulary is available on the UFT Welfare Fund Web site.
- Dental plan. Through the Welfare Fund you can choose between two plans:
– A dental HMO (Dentcare) with no co-payment or
– A Scheduled Benefit Plan that allows you, your spouse or domestic partner,
and your eligible dependents to use participating dentists (at no charge or
with a small co-payment) or nonparticipating dentists with reimbursement according
to the fee schedule.
- Optical plan. It covers the cost of an eye exam and eyeglasses entirely or gives you an allowance that you can apply toward an upgrade.
– You may also elect to purchase contact lenses and receive a credit as per the fee schedule.
- Hearing aid. Members are entitled to one hearing aid every three years.
– Participating providers have agreed to offer a second aid, if necessary,
at a reduced rate.
– The Fund will issue you a hearing aid voucher that explains the details
of the plan.
Only YOU are entitled to these plans:
- Disability insurance. Qualifying pedagogues may be covered for $350 per week for a maximum of 28 weeks. Call the UFT Welfare Fund at 1-212-539-0500 if you need an application or more details.
- Death benefit. When you enroll in the UFT Welfare Fund, you should designate a beneficiary in case of death.
– The younger you are, the higher the death benefit will be, starting
at $30,000 and declining through the years.
– This complements the death benefit that accrues through the pension
system or any other life insurance you may have.
- You can learn about all of your available benefits by reading the Red Apple benefit booklet or on The UFT Welfare Fund Web site: www.uftwf.org.
UFT Welfare Fund Enrollment
Beyond the medical and hospitalization benefits you receive through the city’s health plans, you also have an array of additional benefits through the UFT Welfare Fund, including dental, optical, hearing and prescription drugs.
- You must enroll in the Welfare Fund separately from enrolling in a health plan.
- The fastest and easiest way to enroll is online at www.uftwf.org. This will expedite access to benefits for you and your dependents.
- Alternatively, your UFT chapter leader has Welfare Fund enrollment forms. Mail one directly to the Welfare Fund at the address on the form.
- If your address or marital status change you can update them through the online “change of status” process, or ask your chapter leader for a blue “Change of Status” packet or phone the UFT Welfare Fund forms hotline at 1-212-539-0539.
- Within two weeks of enrolling, you should receive a UFT Welfare Fund drug card, which is your identification for purchasing prescription drugs. Call the Welfare Fund if your card is delayed. Your name will be the only one listed on the card, although the names of your eligible dependents will appear on the pharmacist’s screen.
- You’ll also receive a booklet called “The Red Apple,” which describes the full range of your benefits.
- You are covered as soon as you enroll and will be reimbursed if you need to fill a prescription before your card arrives.
- You can download Welfare Fund reimbursement, dental and most other forms. Or you can phone the Fund’s Forms Hotline at 1-212-535-0539.
- The Web site also has lists of participating panelists, updates on benefits, links to providers’ Web sites and answers to common questions.
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