In order to comply with the requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Rice University is offering qualified employees the opportunity to participate in the Rice Employer Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Medical Insurance Plan through Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston. For purposes of ACA, an employee qualifies if he or she works 30 or more hours per week as determined under applicable regulations. As a Rice graduate student, you may qualify for the Rice Employer ACO Insurance Plan if your work is at that level and duration. Please note that scholarship towards the degree does not count toward those work hours. Furthermore, this eligibility does not exclude students from the Rice Student Health Insurance plan.

As a graduate student your primary responsibility is to devote your time to fulfilling the academic, curricular, and research requirements to obtain your graduate degree. You may sometimes be asked to perform duties out of this scope. The attached Explanation of ACA Hour of Service form (Appendix I) and Graduate Student ACA Agreement Form (Appendix II) will help you determine if these duties consistently average 30 hours of service or more per week at Rice and consequently make you eligible for the Rice Employer ACO Insurance Plan.

As a graduate student you are also eligible for the Rice Student Health Plan (and may already be enrolled) or may have coverage outside of Rice. You will find Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and a Health Plan Comparison Guide attached as Appendix III. The guide may help you decide which plan fits you and your family’s needs best.

All graduate students may submit the completed Graduate Student ACA Agreement Form to the Office of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies via the webform below no later than August 1. If you qualify for the Rice Employer ACO Medical Insurance Plan, you must then contact the Office of Student Insurance either by email at studentinsurance@rice.edu or phone at (713) 348-5544 to schedule an appointment and complete your enrollment no later than August 1. Coverage in the Rice Employer ACO Medical Insurance Plan will be effective August 1 of the same year.You qualify and are eligible to enroll in the Rice Employer ACO Medical Insurance Plan under a qualifying event at a later date if you and your department chair determine you will work 30 or more hours of service per week for three consecutive months or longer. The qualifying event will give you a special enrollment period of 31 days from the point it is determined you will work 30 or more hours of service per week consistently for three consecutive months or longer. You must submit a completed Graduate Student ACA Agreement Form to the Office of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies via the webform below and contact the Office of Student Insurance either by email at studentinsurance@rice.edu or phone at (713) 348-5544 to schedule an appointment and complete your enrollment within your 31-day qualifying event period. Coverage will be effective on the first day of the month coincident with or following your enrollment during your qualifying event period.

Failure to submit a completed Graduate Student ACA Agreement Form prior to the deadlines listed above will result in you affirmatively declining the Rice Employer ACO Medical Insurance Plan. You will not have another opportunity to enroll in the Rice Employer ACO Medical Insurance Plan until the next Fall Rice Student Health Insurance Open Enrollment period, or if you have another qualifying event. More information on qualifying events can be found on the Rice benefits site at www.benefits.rice.edu or studenthealthinsurance.rice.edu.