Health insurance for some 900 former Off-Track Betting Corp. employees was temporarily reinstated yesterday after a judge froze city efforts to cut off benefits to retirees of the defunct bookmaking agency.

District Council 37, which represents many of the retirees, announced yesterday that Supreme Court Judge Martin Shulman issued the restraining order Monday in Manhattan pending further hearings.

The city argues it isn’t obligated to pay the health benefits because the agency is no longer contributing to the insurance.

OTB shut down Dec. 8 after the state Senate rejected a bankruptcy restructuring plan pushed by Gov. Paterson.