With Open-Enrollment Closing on Oct 31, it’s time to Double-check your health insurance eligibility

Your union has fought to correct a systemic error in the way that PSU has been calculating health insurance eligibility. Thanks to state legislation agitated for by higher-ed labor unions like our parent org AFT-Oregon, adjunct faculty members are able to use the hours worked at public institutions across the state to qualify for health insurance benefits. We recently learned that PSU was not factoring non-instructional hours into those calculations. Now, your union has ensured that more adjuncts will have access to employer supported health insurance.

Adjunct faculty members who were eligible for PERS membership last year—across one or multiple Oregon public higher education institutions—may obtain health insurance through the University under HB 2611 (updated most recently in ORS 350.355). The employee’s share of the premium is 10%, and the state pays 90%. Coverage is for employee-only medical, prescription, dental, and vision coverage. PSU’s open enrollment period is October 1–31.

If you worked as an adjunct at PSU during calendar year 2025, you should have received an email from HR titled “PSUFA - Adjunct Healthcare Eligibility” at the start of the month. This email summarizes the number of hours you worked in 2025 that count toward your health benefits eligibility. If the new calculations have put you over the threshold for eligibility, you should have received an updated version of the email. Your union is working to make sure everyone affected by this error will be aware of the update to their qualifying hours. You can also ask HR for a breakdown of how the hours were calculated by emailing benefits@pdx.edu.

Understanding Benefits Eligibility

Basic health benefits eligibility is tied to PERS eligibility, which means you worked 6 consecutive months in 2025, and at least 600 hours (across institutions) in 2025. Both the 6 consecutive months and 600 hours have to be met in order to be eligible:

Any consecutive 6-month period in 2025 counts. For example:

  • An adjunct who taught in Winter 2025 (Jan, Feb, March) and Spring 2025 (April, May, June) would meet the 6 months criteria.

  • Adjuncts don’t have to work during the summer to maintain their consecutive 6-months, so an adjunct teaching in Spring 2025 (April, May, June) and Fall 2025 (Oct, Nov, Dec) would also meet the criteria.

  • An adjunct teaching in Winter 2025 and Fall 2025, but not Spring 2025 would not have met the consecutive months criteria.

To determine the number of hours worked in 2025:

  • 1 teaching credit = 34.75 working hours, meaning an adjunct needs to teach 18 credits (.389 FTE) in the 2025 calendar year to reach the 600 hours threshold.

  • Credits taught or hours worked over the summer count toward the 600 hours.

  • Your hours doing other PSU work, even non-represented hourly wage agreement work (Faculty Senate, curricular development, departmental liaison), count toward the 600 hours.

Eligible adjuncts wishing to sign up for health benefits through PSU must make their selections by October 31.