NYU Langone Health on Long Island: Physicians, Nurses, and Staff

The main plan

The 403(b): an employer contribution you do not have to earn by saving

The NYU Langone Health 403(b) Plan is sponsored by NYU Langone Hospitals. Its summary plan description, issued June 2026, says the employer contributes a percentage of your eligible salary “without any required contribution on your part.” For most job categories it starts after a one-year waiting period (one union group waits two years), and a year generally counts when your base hours are at least 17.5 a week throughout the twelve months.

Since October 1, 2025, the rate depends on your job category:

Job category	Employer contribution, % of pay
Upper management, including Long Island physicians and administrators	10%
Entry to mid-level management	8%
Exempt professional	6%
Non-exempt technical and clerical	6%

Staff covered by a union contract receive the employer contribution only if that contract provides it. Staff hired on or after January 1, 2020 are enrolled automatically at a 4% pretax deduction, which you can change; this generally does not apply to union staff. Roth contributions are allowed.

Vesting: the date you were hired matters

If you were in the NYU controlled group on December 31, 2015, you are fully vested in the employer contribution. If you were hired on or after January 1, 2016, you vest on a schedule: nothing under 2 years, 25% at 2 years, 50% at 3, 75% at 4 and 100% at 5. Leaving after three years but before four leaves half of the employer money behind.

Rather go through this with your own numbers? We can cover it in a short conversation, at no charge and with no obligation. Book your Retirement Review

If you work at the Suffolk hospital

The Suffolk hospital was Long Island Community Hospital until it joined NYU Langone. The 403(b) summary says that an employee who provides services at the Suffolk division is not eligible to make contributions to the plan or to receive employer contributions, and Suffolk service does not count toward the Retiree Medical Account described below. Staff there should confirm in writing which retirement plan covers them.

Older benefits and the exit

The old pensions are frozen

NYU Langone Hospitals’ financial statements for fiscal 2021 say the Retirement Plan for Employees of Winthrop-University Hospital merged into the NYU Langone Hospitals plan on December 31, 2019, and that “All plans are frozen and no longer available to new participants,” with an exception for union nurses in a Brooklyn plan. If you worked at Winthrop before it became NYU Langone Hospital, Long Island, you may have a pension already earned. Ask for a benefit statement, and read the pension decisions page before you choose how it is paid.

Physicians and executives: the 457(b)

NYU Langone’s 2025 annual report records 457(b) plan assets, but who is eligible and the plan’s terms are not published. If you are offered one, the rule on the Healthcare professionals page applies: at a tax-exempt employer the balance remains the employer’s property until it is paid to you, and it cannot be rolled into an IRA.

Retiree health: an account, not a promise of coverage

Since January 1, 2022, the NYU Langone Hospitals Retiree Medical Account Plan has covered Long Island staff. Its summary describes an employer credit of $4,000 a year from age 40 until you retire, or from 60 to 65 for grandfathered employees. You vest after 15 years of continuous service beginning on or after age 40, and the account can be used from age 62 if you vested before you left. It is an account to help pay for coverage, not coverage itself.

When you leave

The 403(b) is covered by ERISA. At separation you can take a single sum, make partial withdrawals, or choose an annuity. The rollover page covers the choice between leaving the money in the plan and moving it.