To date, 14 CFT locals have secured AB 190 Option 1 programs (Full-time faculty equivalent healthcare for Part-time faculty working over 40% of a full-time load).  

These CFT local union part-time successes have both saved and changed lives for the better.

“A miracle” is how Amy Harris, a 25-year veteran ESL instructor in North Orange Community College’s Adult Ed program describes it.  Single, independent, self-supporting, like many of her part-time colleagues, Harris has had to work at multiple campuses, as much to secure a livable STRS pension in retirement.

Her income just crosses the threshold for an ACA (Affordable Care Act) subsidy. This meant  until she was able to secure a fully paid group plan through North Orange, she had to pay, out-of-pocket, the full-cost for her individual California-Covered plan—around $12,000 a year.

In February of 2020, Harris learned that she had stage four lymphoma and had to undergo pricy 24-hour chemotherapy. The policy had a $15,000 deductible.  In sum, she estimated she had to pay out over $25,000 in out-of-pocket costs.

To make matters worse, as this was during the height of COVID, Harris was being pressed to do online training at North Orange at risk of losing her job.  She then had to take four online teaching training courses online simultaneously. This took her an estimated 360 hours.

Somehow, out of all of this, Harris emerged cancer free.

Now that she’s on a fully-paid group plan by the district, gone are the $1,000 a month payments. In addition, many of her procedures that were not formally covered are now in full. With the savings Harris notes, “I can start thinking more about paying down my mortgage.”

For Alyssa Vafaei, a counselor at Palomar College, the Palomar Faculty Federation’s securing of AB 190 Option 1 healthcare came at just the right time. Though she and her family initially covered under her husbands’ plan, it was not long after Palomar had locked down their part-time healthcare deal that her husband was laid off.  

Both Vafaei and her husband, who is a type -2 diabetic, have existing medical conditions, and with a young son having health insurance was essential.

Even with her husbands’ coverage, there was a $750 a month premium and a $3,000 deductible. This would effectively wipe out any potential savings they had hoped to have. The Palomar plan requires no premium or deductible.

For the first time, we actually can save money for things like emergencies, or other things,” said Vafaei.

Union-wise, Palomar’s win on healthcare has made her into a union activist as well, with Vafaei now the union local’s COPE Chair. Vafei now has a reaffirmed commitment to Palomar, stating, “I find that my family’s needs are being met with this district to the point I don’t feel the need to look for additional employment elsewhere.” 

The prospect of getting full-time faculty equivalent healthcare can also lead to part-time faculty considering the possibility of making significant and positive lifestyle changes. For John Ciobanasiu, a part-time English instructor at Yuba, it means the potential for a better family lifestyle. Up to now, the Ciobanasiu family coverage has been tied to his wife, who works in the medical field. With her having to work full-time in order to get coverage, Ciobanasiu has had to juggle teaching online while caring at home for their three young children. 

“Being able to get insurance through the district means that perhaps my wife can start to work on a per diem basis,” Ciobanasiu said, also implying he then could better concentrate on his teaching as he and his wife can more easily share parenting duties.

This not only makes the Ciobanasiu family a winner, but Ciobanasiu’s students and the Yuba district as well.

Whatever their personal circumstances, these part-timers and their families are not simply in a better position in terms of their health and finances, but also given with the prospect of imagining a future less immediate and fearful, and one more much brighter and more hopeful.