Employee Insurance FAQs

Dental and vision insurance are provided as a “package deal” at NO cost for either individual or family coverage.

For CSEA and UUP employees, coverage begins 6 weeks after date of hire. For M/C, NYSCOPBA, PBANYS, and PEF employees, coverage begins after 8 weeks of hire. For GSEU employees, coverage may begin as soon as the first date of employment.

ID cards will be sent to you upon enrollment. Replacement cards can be obtained by contacting the carrier. GSEU employees must contact Human Resources.

CSEA and UUP employees must contact their union. All other employees must contact Human Resources.

There is no short-term disability for NYS public employees*. If you are absent, you must use your earned accruals. If you exhaust your accruals, there are guidelines in place for us to use, as applicable, to keep you in a paid status for as long as possible.

*M/C classified employees, however, are automatically enrolled in the NYS Income Protection Plan (IPP). The IPP provides short-term and long-term disability benefits.

After one year of applicable employment, UUP and M/C unclassified employees are automatically enrolled in a long-term disability plan at no cost. If absent for more than 6 months, it pays up to 60% of wages.

M/C classified employees are automatically enrolled in the NYS Income Protection Plan (IPP). The IPP provides short-term and long-term disability benefits.

The cost of health insurance depends on several factors - your salary, whether you enroll in individual or family coverage and which plan you choose. For all employees (except GSEU), there is a 2-tier rate structure. If your salary grade is 9 or below or if your annualized salary is below a certain threshold (it changes every year), you pay a lower rate. If you are above these thresholds, you pay a higher rate. Family rates are significantly higher than individual rates and there is NO 2-person rate. You can find specific, current rates via several different links, including, but not limited to:

SUNY Oneonta Health Insurance Information
SUNY Benefit Summaries
NYSHIP Rates & Deadlines

For CSEA and UUP employees, coverage begins exactly 6 weeks after the date of hire. For all other employees, coverage begins exactly 8 weeks after the date of hire. (Exception - for GSEU employees, coverage may begin as soon as the first day of employment.)

As a new enrollee in any plan, ID cards will be mailed to your home address about 2 weeks after your enrollment is entered. As an existing enrollee, if replacement ID cards are needed, if you are in the Empire Plan, you can either order them yourself by using the self-service option, at NYSHIP.com or contact Human Resources. If you are enrolled in an HMO, you must contact your specific plan.

The Empire plan provides worldwide coverage. Details are available on the NY on the road online PDF.

HMOs only provide coverage within their designated service areas, although emergency care may be covered anywhere.

The short answer is complete, sign and submit a NYSHIP Health Insurance Transaction Form to Human Resources NO LATER THAN 7 CALENDAR DAYS AFTER DATE OF MARRIAGE.

The best answer, however, is contact Human Resources NO LATER THAN 3 MONTHS PRIOR TO MARRIAGE, and inquire about your options. Depending upon a number of variables, including spouse’s employment status, spouse’s health insurance options, whether or not there are any children, etc, our staff will discuss your situation with you and assist you to make the best decision for yourself. Late requests may result in a lapse of coverage and/or significant additional cost.

Yes. Technically, until you are divorced, you are still married and, therefore, your spouse is still eligible to be covered by your family plan. NOTE: if you take your spouse off your family coverage and s/he incurs medical expenses, you might still be liable for all/some of those expenses. If your spouse has no other insurance or inferior insurance, this could be very expensive for you. Be sure to consult with a legal advisor.

An ex-spouse is not eligible to be covered under your family health insurance plan. As soon as possible, provide a copy of the divorce papers to Human Resources documenting the date the divorce was “filed and entered”. Note that the date your ex-spouse will be removed from your coverage will be the exact same date the divorce was filed and entered, no matter how long ago the event occurred in the past. Therefore, your ex-spouse should make plans to have other coverage in place in a timely manner.

If you already have family coverage, you just need to complete a form and submit it to Human Resources no later than 30 calendar days after your baby is born, along with copies of your baby’s birth certificate and SS card.

Contact Human Resources NO LATER THAN 3 MONTHS PRIOR TO BABY’S DUE DATE if you will be needing to change from individual to family coverage, enroll in a plan for the first time or cancel your coverage (because you will be enrolling you and your baby in a plan from another source). Our staff will discuss your situation with you and assist you to make the best decision for yourself. Late requests may result in a lapse of coverage and/or significant additional cost.

UUP employees are provided $6000 of term life insurance at no cost. Additional coverage can be purchased through a carrier designated by UUP.

CSEA employees can purchase life insurance through a carrier designated by CSEA.

M/C employees can purchase an amount equal to $5000 or $10,000 or $15,000 or 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 times their annual salary. The cost depends on the employee’s age and smoking status.

Employees who join Employees’ Retirement System, Teachers Retirement System or Police and Fire Retirement System may be covered by a death benefit if they die while they are still employed.