The following update was emailed to all UFT Delegates as part of the Delegate Assembly Highlights on June 12, 2025:

Mulgrew noted that the city and the Municipal Labor Committee, of which the UFT is a part, are engaged in a negotiated acquisition process to finalize a new, improved health care plan for in-service city workers and pre-Medicare city retirees. EmblemHealth/UnitedHealthcare was selected as the finalist.

The union’s most important goal is locking in quality, premium-free health insurance for years. Mulgrew noted that while health care premiums for workers in the private sector had tripled between 2003 and 2023, New York City employees continue to pay no premiums.

He said the premiums in New York City have increased from $15,000 to $31,000 for the family plan and from $6,000 to $12,000 for individuals. “But the city pays those premiums,” Mulgrew said. “Our members remain premium-free. Nobody in the country has what we have.”

Mulgrew said the other goals of the negotiated acquisition process were to get the largest number of doctors in the network so more members can keep their current doctors and expand the network of hospitals and mental health practitioners.

He said that while the negotiations with EmblemHealth/UnitedHealthcare were about to get underway, there is no telling how long it will take to hammer out a final plan. “This might go on for a year,” he said.

See the latest updates on the fight to protect and enhance our premium-free health care »