Retired NYC employees sue to block new ‘inferior’ Medicare coverage

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​ ​ RETIRED LIEUTENANTS ASSOCIATION NYPD ​ Mayor, keep the city’s promises to its retirees​ ​ the Chief, Tuesday, July 9, 2024 BY MATT WEBER Once again, Mayor Eric Adams has chosen to overlook critical facts and components of the Retirees’ Medicare Advantage program he so strongly endorses. Material misrepresentations must not be forgotten or ignored. Retirees were told repeatedly that under the mayor’s plan, they would continue to experience unhindered access to treatment and care from any doctor or facility that accepts traditional Medicare, and they could do so without experiencing astronomical out-of-pocket costs. Clearly the mayor and his advisors were either misinformed or lack critical insights that would enable them to distinguish traditional Medicare Parts A and B from an inferior privatized, for-profit Medicare Advantage plan. Facts matter. For instance, • NYC municipal retirees earned and were promised traditional Medicare coupled with premium free supplemental coverage. • Predicated upon promises made to them, NYC retirees have chosen to live throughout the United States. • Through rigorous standards, the National Cancer Institute identifies Centers of Excellence for cancer screening, treatment and care. These centers are located throughout the United States. • Most, if not all, NCI Centers of Excellence participate in traditional Medicare Parts A and B. • Numerous NCI Centers of Excellence do not Participate in Medicare Advantage Plans. Representation made by the mayor’s delegates in regards unhindered access to treatment and care were at best, uninformed. • If Adams is successful in forcing NYC’s municipal retirees into his Medicare Advantage program, people who sacrificed unselfishly will be irreparably harmed. • An objective and thorough assessment of efficiencies and cost-savings that could be achieved by combining the greater than 100 independent union welfare funds has not been accomplished. • If the Municipal Labor Committee, the umbrella organization of city public-sector unions, combined most, if not all, of their welfare funds into one organization, enormous recurring administrative, operating and capital cost savings would occur. To date, the mayor has chosen to ignore this opportunity; instead, he chooses to implement a plan that hurts the most vulnerable among us; the elderly, infirm and disabled. Shame on Mayor Adams. It is time for the mayor to convene a retiree health care panel to educate and guide him; a panel comprised of objective, knowledgeable, analytical, critical thinking subject matter experts. The president of the New York City Organization for Public Service Retirees, Marianne Pizzitola, and the United Federation of Teachers’ Retired Teachers Chapter’s leader, Bennett Fischer, should be designated as the panel’s co-chairs. My mother, Judith A. Weber, who taught at PS 241 in Crown Heights for 26 years, was a mentor for many. She also was a proud supporter of Albert Shanker, the UFT’s president for two decades, a world-class union leader and a strong believer in the premise that a solid education best positions people for success. Mom was adamant that she and her colleagues were unequivocally promised traditional Medicare coupled with premium free supplemental insurance throughout retirement, period. Up until a few days before passing at the age of 97, Mom encouraged me to champion on behalf of all city retirees and especially individuals like her: frail, elderly, infirm individuals who literally did not have the strength to fight for themselves. I honor my mother by joining tens of thousands of others who know that facts matter, and understand that promises made, are promises to be kept. Matt Weber is a retired manager with NYC Health and Hospitals Corp. and a member of the NYC Managerial Employees Association. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

Retired Lieutenants Association NYPD | 266-19 Hillside Avenue | Floral Park, NY 11004 US​

 

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Medicare Advantage Bad News​

Uncovered - 8.19.24 - UPDATEDOver the past few days, both CVS/Aetna and Humana admitted to Wall Street that their Medicare Advantage plans are not nearly as profitable as those insurers had predicted a year ago. As a consequence, hundreds of thousands – and probably millions – of seniors and disabled people enrolled in Aetna’s and Humana’s plans may soon wish they had never heard of Medicare Advantage.
Aetna president Brian Kane probably wishes he had never heard of Medicare Advantage, either. The poor guy got canned in a very public way yesterday, presumably for overseeing the payment of too many Medicare Advantage claims during his short tenure at Aetna. His boss, CVS CEO Karen Lynch, said during the company’s second-quarter earnings call with investors and Wall Street financial analysts that Kane, who joined the company just last September, was leaving Aetna “immediately.”
As sorry as I am for Kane, I am much more concerned about the health and well-being of the 4.3 million people enrolled in CVS’s MA plans and the 6.2 million in Humana’s plans. Sadly, most will find they’re trapped in a circle of hell created by the insurance industry, unable to stay in their current Medicare Advantage plan but also unable to return to traditional Medicare because of what for them will be unaffordable Medicare supplemental policies (most of which are sold by the same big insurers that sell MA plans). Seniors have six months from the date they’re eligible for Medicare to buy a supplemental (Medigap) policy to cover out-of-pocket expenses. If they’ve been enrolled in an MA plan longer than six months, they’ll have to go through medical underwriting. That means that if they’re being treated for much of anything or, God forbid, have a “preexisting condition,” they’ll have to pay an arm and a leg for Medigap policy.
Humana said last week it planned to jettison “a few hundred thousand” of its Medicare Advantage enrollees that have become unprofitable. CVS says it will get rid of about 10% of its MA enrollment, which would be around 430,000 of America’s seniors and disabled people. Most of those folks likely will be able to enroll in another insurer’s MA plan (although the options will be more limited in many counties), but they likely will find that their premiums will be higher, their benefits skimpier, and that some of their preferred doctors and hospitals are not “in-network.” As HEALTH CARE un-covered has reported, a growing number of physician practices and hospitals are now refusing to take Medicare Advantage patients.
It’s important to point out that Humana and CVS/Aetna are still making very nice profits, even on their MA businesses, but Wall Street doesn’t like any part of a company to be less profitable than they had been told to expect. So, when investors send a message – by dumping their shares – the C-Suite listens. Executives swing into action to try to staunch the bleeding, especially considering that most of their compensation is paid in stock.
Both Humana and CVS have been in the Wall Street doghouse for months now because of their lackluster MA operations. Humana’s shares have lost an astonishing 33% of their value since last October. CVS/Aetna’s shares are down more than 32% since just the first of this year. I handled financial communications for Cigna for 10 years and I can’t recall such a long stretch of decline. But when Cigna shares did take a big hit after a disappointing quarterly earnings report, it would be all hands-on deck to turn the ship around.
At Humana and CVS/Aetna, some of the hands will be hard at work identifying unprofitable enrollees to dump. Other hands will turn to “utilization management” (a.k.a. medical cost management). That means the companies likely will ratchet up prior authorization requirements, refuse to pay claims they previously would have paid (making greater use of AI in both endeavors), and make enrollees pay more in premiums and out-of-pocket requirements.
Both companies are finding out that the big bets they placed on MA in years past are not paying off. Expecting an ongoing gravy train from the government, Aetna spent heavily on MA marketing last year and saw its enrollment increase by 33% between December 31, 2022, and June 30, 2024, from 3.3 million to 4.3 million. Aetna will be trying to run off many of those 1 million new enrollees before the end of this year.
Humana also bet big and, it seems with hindsight, recklessly on MA. On February 23 of last year, it announced it was getting out of the employer-sponsored health insurance business entirely so it could focus exclusively on Medicare Advantage and other taxpayer-funded programs. Wall Street didn’t balk at that decision initially, but I suspect many investors and financial analysts are now questioning the sanity of the company’s leadership.
Company executives have tried to reassure investors they have a handle on all the levers at their disposal to get their profit margins back to levels deemed satisfactory to Wall Street. They do the reassuring in language that most of us couldn’t make heads or tails of, like this from Humana CFO Susan Diamond during the company’s second-quarter earnings call on July 31:

On the inpatient (hospital admissions)…we do within our utilization management programs, have what we call a frontend review process. So we are reviewing those authorizations in real-time as they come in for things like medical necessity and site of service effectively…There is also activity that we do after the claim comes in, which we call a postpay review, where there are some incremental opportunities to just review, again the more specificity on that claim to make sure it's appropriate and we get value from both sides of that.

What this means is that doctors will find more of their decisions being second-guessed by Humana beancounters, they’ll encounter more questions about the necessity of a proposed treatment, medication or hospital admission, and they’ll see more of the claims they file being paid only in part if at all. If all that makes doctors’ lives more miserable, if it means some patients won’t get medically necessary care, so be it. In Medicare Advantage, Wall Street will not be happy until profit margins start growing again, and nothing – nothing – is more important to the CEOs and CFOs of these publicly traded companies than Wall Street’s happiness.

PS: Yet another big Medicare Advantage player, Centene, says it, too, will be cutting thousands of its enrollees adrift as it exits counties in six states. Nearly 40,000 seniors and disabled people will be affected.

 

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RETIRED LIEUTENANTS ASSOCIATION NYPD

Letter from Office of Labor Relation, Renee Campion, Commissioner.

September 17, 2024

Dear City of New York employee,

You may have recently received a letter from Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) regarding their negotiations with the City’s insurer for hospital benefits, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield (Anthem). It was disturbing to the City and the Municipal Labor Committee that MSK chose to involve patients in their negotiations with an insurer, and we are writing to clear up some of the misinformation and confusion caused by the letter.

Anthem is negotiating with MSK to continue their agreement for 2025 and beyond. Provider contract renewals are a routine and normal part of the health care industry, and typically, these negotiations settle close to the renewal date. The City is optimistic that Anthem and MSK will reach a new agreement before the current contract ends on January 1, 2025. However, you should be aware that MSK failed to mention in their letter that New York law requires both Anthem and MSK to honor the terms of their contract until at least March 1, 2025. Additionally, in the unlikely event that MSK exits Anthem’s network, there is an agreement that ensures that all patients who begin treatment before March 1, 2025, will maintain their benefit coverage at MSK for the entire duration of their treatment.

You should also be aware that these negotiations do not apply to retirees in the Senior Care plan since Medicare is the primary payor.

If you are undergoing treatment at MSK please continue as you have in the past. Anthem has set up a website at Anthem.com/MSKCONY with information on the negotiations. That site will be updated as negotiations continue. You can also contact Anthem Member Services at the number on your ID Card.

Be assured that we are monitoring the situation closely and will keep you informed.

Sincerely,
Renee Campion

OLR Statement Regarding Memorial Sloan Kettering - NYC MEA NYC Managerial Employees Association: The ONLY Advocates for Managers.



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Retired Lieutenants Association NYPD | 266-19 Hillside Avenue | Floral Park, NY 11004 US

 

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​ ​ RETIRED LIEUTENANTS' ASSOCIATION NYPD ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We are forwarding this email regarding the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees lawsuits, their cancelled Rally on October 10, 2024, and their updated donation information as requested by several members -------------------------------------------------------------------------​ THE OCTOBER 10th RALLY IS CANCELLED! WE WILL RESCHEDULE MOST LIKELY FOR OCTOBER 23rd. I WILL EXPLAIN MORE AS WE GET CLOSER. I AM SORRY AS I KNOW YOU ALL WERE LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS! WE TRIED UP UNTIL LATE TO MAKE THIS WORK. TRUST ME..... IT WAS NOT US.. BUT THERE IS ONE PERSON.... AND WE WILL SHARE THAT SOON TOO.... I JUST CAN'T "SPEAK" ABOUT IT NOW!!! THE LATEST QUESTION ON THE BROWARD 10-13 MEETING ON THE AETNA PLAN. WHEN SABRINA DOESN'T ANSWER THE QUESTION, WE DO! FLORIDA Aetna Retirees will LOSE THEIR PLAN if the City Wins (youtube.com) Marianne Donations are Needed!​ TO DONATE TO THE ORGANIZATION​ ​ Donation Instructions to Support Our Organization and our Fight To Protect Our Retiree Healthcare:​ ​ We worked decades for our benefits! Let’s make sure the City and the MLC don’t take them away!​ ​ A suggested $25 Donation* will help start the fight to keep our current benefits.​ ​ *Give more if you can, and/or often! If you cannot meet the minimum suggested donation, we appreciate whatever you can give towards this fight for our benefits. We also added the option to make your donation recurring (monthly) as was requested.​ ​ We are incorporated as a 501c5, Non-Profit, but not tax deductible. ALL proceeds go to fund the organization and its legal challenge. Volunteer retirees are running this effort.​ ​ TO DONATE, HERE ARE 4 SIMPLE WAYS!​ ​ 1.Zelle using email NYCOrgofpublicserviceretirees@gmail.com YOU CANNOT USE THE ZELLE APP! You must use Zelle via your online banking. In some cases you cannot use the Zelle via the bank app either. So if you're finding trouble, use the computer and make the payment via Zelle from your online banking.​ ​ 2. Make your check out to:​ NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees​ c/o JSH Accounting Services LLC​ PO Box 143538​ Fayetteville, GA 30214​ (this is the organization's accounting professional DO NOT MAKE THE CHECK OUT TO THEM!)​ ​ 3. Or click on this Paypal link:​ https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=Q4VWJEYVJ9HTW&Z3&fbclid=IwAR0pEOc51x9xhc-CBb8vqAIkX97Bgg1Z02f1r9gQh9S3dOsVmAdob5jBbw8​ ​ 4. VENMO OUR Venmo Name changed! Please take note! VENMO is a Phone App or can be used on a PC or Tablet You can download and install the Phone App from the Android Play Store or Apple App Store. There may be fees involved using this method. Our NEW ID is: @NYCRetirees2 If you are on this list, it is because you subscribed to hear what we are doing as an organization that represents all NYC Municipal workers in protecting their Health benefits in retirement. Currently, we have a FACEBOOK page located here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/888622578669131 If you are not on FACEBOOK, we will be updating you here. And Check our website for FAQ www.nycretirees.orgThank you for signing up for our newsletter and pass this to a friend to sign up too!​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

Retired Lieutenants Association NYPD | 266-19 Hillside Avenue | Floral Park, NY 11004 US​

 

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RETIRED LIEUTENANTS' ASSOCIATION NYPD ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We are forwarding this email regarding the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees lawsuits that includes the status of the copay lawsuit, 2024, and their updated donation information as requested by several members -------------------------------------------------------------------------​ Good Evening & Retirees in Training! Some Great NEWS! FIRST! RALLY! Wednesday, October 23rd will be held at City Hall ON THE STEPS. To get through Security for a RALLY ON THE STEPS at NOON, be there about 1130am!! So get there a little early to go through security! Bring Your Signs! Wear Your Shirts! Be comfortable! Today is a SPECIAL DAY! After the Press Conference, we will go to the sidewalk where we usually hold our rally near Park Place/Broadway. EVERYONE MUST COME OUT FOR THIS EVENT!!! YOU WILL LOVE WHAT YOU HEAR! We look forward to seeing you all! Bring a friend! COPAY UPDATE See the first video below about Thursday's oral arguments in Court. This was procedural in nature - in the CoPay Case. We HAVE NOT ARGUED THE MERITS OF THIS CASE YET! To That end - if you are in North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Florida, or Nevada please answer this survey! SEE YOU WEDNESDAY!!​ DONATION INFORMATION! Please go to our website to donate! www.nycretirees.org You can make a donation through our portal, it is very easy! And have your friends sign up for our newsletters! We just started our FALL Fundraising Campaign! Thank you all for supporting this organization! All our efforts and successes are because of you! THANK YOU! We Won the Motion Today in the CoPay Case! The Aetna Rep Lied Again- See the Contract for Yourself COPAYS ARE COMING IF WE FORCED INTO THE PLAN - YouTube FLORIDA Aetna Retirees will LOSE THEIR PLAN if the City Wins ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

Retired Lieutenants Association NYPD | 266-19 Hillside Avenue | Floral Park, NY 11004 US​ ​

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10-28-24...EMBLEM HEALTH CO PAY INFO....

 

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12-4-24 UPDATE. https://api.neonemails.com/emails/content/HB92VG_D4ULXvA4yPJfwy-U2kSzw1VWbEM7OGen92-k=

 

[memorymaster]

12-4-24 UPDATE. https://api.neonemails.com/emails/content/HB92VG_D4ULXvA4yPJfwy-U2kSzw1VWbEM7OGen92-k=

The TWU retirees have their headaches now with Davis trying to ok the Medicare Advantage for them.

 

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RETIRED LIEUTENANTS' ASSOCIATION NYPD

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We are forwarding this email regarding the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees lawsuits. All of the information is from the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees latest email.

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Dear Fellow Retirees & Retirees in Training,
WE HAVE HISTORIC NEWS!
For the first time in NYC Labor History, a retiree organization sued the City of NY and won all the way up to the NYS Court of Appeals! Yes! In the Campion Case which was about Administrative Code 12-126 - what does the city have to pay up to for our health coverage? We received a unanimous decision. Click below for the decision and the video at the end for the press conference.

Our court updates are here with the press statement.

We thanks Local 2507, Local 924, Masters, Mates & Pilots, Correction Captains and Plumbers Local 1 for their support in Campion,

Remember - the fight is NOT OVER!
We still have TWO MORE CASES!!

********
We also want to thank everyone for coming out to the Rally Against Henry Garrido, DC37, and our team of Facebook moderators and "boots on the ground" Michelle Keller and Jack Torre. The Occupy DC37 rally was a success, we definitely got our message across.

If you are going to interfere with our legislation, we are going to call you out on it. Henry liquidated retiree healthcare and then lied to the City Council who has largely been complicit to this. The next time a greedy union or mayor tries to liquidate retiree benefits, they better hope those retirees do what we did and can fight back. Or they will be screwed.
The City Council Speaker is silently complicit to this scheme.

Every event we have, please bring your rally kits! Collapsible stools, whistles and posters! Thank you everyone for braving the rain and cold and making our power heard!

We are supporting a few candidates for office, and we putting their information here for you to review. Donation small donations to over the next few weeks and if you live in the 5 boros those donations will receive matching funds! At our Occupy DC37 Rally, three advocate came to speak. They are sitting City Council Member Kristy Marmorato from Bronx, Candidate for City Council District 7 Edafe Okporo.

Edafe will be seeking endorsement from the Three Parks Democratic Club on January 8th at 7:30 PM. 891 Amsterdam Ave NY NY. Please join him to support his campaign.

And of course, James Walden who is running for Mayor. James is in the middle of fundraising and if you click his name you will be taken to the campaign finance page to make a contribution to their campaigns. We suggest if you are going to contribute do so before January 12th, because if you are a NYC resident, your contribution is matched and boosts it!

Donate to the New York City candidates you support so they can run effective campaigns throughout the city.
Your donation allows candidates to hire staff, create campaign materials, and reach more voters in your community. Your contribution goes even farther when you support candidates who participate in the City’s matching funds program. Donations from City residents to participating candidates can be matched 8-to-1. That means when you contribute $10, the candidate receives $90. Learn more about the matching funds program.
Jim Walden's Campaign flyer is here Click to contribute

We have a healthcare survey, a super simple one! Please take it, and share it with other active and retired city workers! Click below! Click here

Mid Week Update

Press conference post NYS Court of Appeals Victory!


If you're having trouble viewing this email, you can see it online.

Mid Week Update

Press conference post NYS Court of Appeals Victory!

Have a great holiday everyone... we are taking a well needed break to charge our batteries and we will see you after the new year. If anything happens we will be sure to alert you. So for now, please relax, get in some fund time with friends and family and take a social media break! We will have our Friday Night update at 7:30 PM and don't forget to join me on the radio Friday 7 AM as I will be joined by Councilman Chris Marte and Transit Local 106 President Phil Valenti! Listen LiVE HERE

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and great Holiday Season.


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Retired Lieutenants Association NYPD | 266-19 Hillside Avenue | Floral Park, NY 11004 US

 

[memorymaster]

Thanks Chief!

 

[GeoC]

Keep up the good fight

NY’s highest court sides with NYC retirees in Medicare Advantage fight. Adams isn’t giving up.

The administration wants to shift some 250,000 municipal retirees and their dependents off of traditional Medicare.

gothamist.com

 

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NYC RETIRED & ACTIVE WKRS

NYC Retirees and Active Workers Solidarity Coalition Get Your Hands Out of Our Pockets! End Retiree Copays, Pass Intro 1096 We are witnessi...

thousandpointsofright.blogspot.com

 

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RETIRED LIEUTENANTS ASSOCIATION NYPD


Short of Council support, retirees vow to prevail on Medicare issue

Posted Saturday, January 11, 2025 12:28 pm
BY RICHARD KHAVKINE
City Council legislation that would preserve municipal retirees’ health benefits has so far found little traction, but the retirees and their advocates have vowed to persist in their effort to defeat the Adams administration’s plan to switch the former city workers into an inferior Medicare Advantage plan.

Ten of them met last Friday with Chelsea Council Member Erik Bottcher, who they said declined to support a bill that would prohibit wholesale changes to the retired workers’ health plans.

One person who attended the meeting told the roughly 35 retirees who had assembled outside 250 Broadway that Bottcher said he was waiting to get more information before deciding on whether to support or oppose the bill. “How much more … information do they need?” the person asked rhetorically. “They got it all.”

“They don’t give a shit! They don’t give a shit!,” the retirees chanted in response.

Bottcher’s office did not reply to an email seeking comment.

The bill, introduced by Downtown Manhattan Council Member Christopher Marte last fall, so far has the backing of just six of his colleagues, most of them members of the conservative Common Sense Caucus. It has not been scheduled for a hearing, according to a Council representative.

Marte’s bill is the second legislative effort designed to ensure the city retirees would keep access to their traditional, government-administered Medicare, which is widely thought to be far superior to privately managed Medicare Advantage plans. Former Council Member Charles Barron’s bill, introduced in June 2023, received little support and died without a hearing.

“I don't understand why this is taking so long,” Marianne Pizzitola, the president of the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees, said following the meeting with Bottcher. “This should be common sense. You protect Medicare, you protect retirees, you protect your municipal workers…. And we should not have to keep coming out here in the cold, in the rain, in the summer, every four seasons, to keep fighting to protect a federal public health benefit.”

While neither the Council, the Adams administration nor the heads of the municipal unions have indicated a willingness to discuss the issue with the retirees, courts have consistently sided with claims that switching them to a private plan would break assurances and promises made decades ago.

State lawmakers weigh in
The retirees’ latest judicial victory came last month, when, in a unanimous decision, the state’s Court of Appeals found that the city's administrative code requires the city to pay up to the statutory cap for all plans it offers to its employees and former workers, including, for the city’s roughly 250,000 retirees, Medicare supplement insurance, or so-called Medigap plans.

The retirees have also received the support of several state lawmakers, who last month sent a letter to Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and her Council colleagues noting Medicare Advantage plans’ “abject failure.”

The letter noted private insurance companies’ increasing reliance on artificial intelligence to deny prior authorization for treatment. The letter cited a report by a U.S. Senate subcommittee that concluded that one prominent Medicare Advantage plan prioritized profits over care. “Under no circumstances should the City of New York be rewarding corporate greed at the expense of retirees’ lives,” the letter, signed by 26 state Senate and Assembly members, said.

It urged the Council to pass Marte’s bill. “We strongly urge you to support and quickly pass this legislation, not just to protect retirees' access to health care, but to set an example for the country that we should not trade our seniors’ lives for insurance companies’ profits,” the lawmakers wrote.

On Friday, Pizzitola, joined by representatives from several neighborhood political associations at the meeting with Bottcher, said the retirees would recruit candidates to run against Council members who decline to support the legislation. “We’re going to take this home and we’re going to start educating all of their constituents” that their Council member is not supporting retirees.

Pizzitola said she and her allies would continue to lobby for the bill, including through one-on-one meetings with Council members.
richardk@thechiefleader.com



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Retired Lieutenants Association NYPD | 266-19 Hillside Avenue | Floral Park, NY 11004 US

 

[nfd2004]

"How much more information do they need".
"They got it all".

"We need more information" is a favorite term used by political leaders when it comes to contract negations.
As we ALL know - it's really about what decision will gain them the most votes for their OWN POLITICAL FUTURE.

Stay together and I wish everyone all the best.

A good friend from this website once told me: "Teamwork Makes the Dream Work", whether it be fighting fires or protecting what you already have.

 

[68jk09]

​ ​ RETIRED LIEUTENANTS ASSOCIATION NYPD ​ Municipal retirees bash city's Medicare Advantage plan​ Marte, Pizzitola, others rip unions for supporting proposal​ ​ BY RICHARD KHAVKINE the Chief June 9, 2025 Laura Genovese was, in her words, getting “worked up.” Speaking at a town hall event hosted by downtown Manhattan Council Member Christopher Marte last week, the former Department of Education secretary said she was infuriated by the lack of support for municipal retirees’ blanket opposition to city officials' sustained effort to switch the retirees to a privately administered, for-profit health plan. Genovese said she was particularly baffled that progressive lawmakers, notably Zohran Mamdani, and their counterparts in the City Council had not publicly denounced the so-far unsuccessful plan to move roughly 250,000 former city workers to a Medicare Advantage plan. “What does that show, really? And we're talking about 9/11 survivors and responders,” she said at last Thursday's event, which was attended by about 50 people at the Manny Cantor Center on the Lower East Side. To her further dismay, she noted that Mamdani placed second on District Council 37’s list of ranked-choice endorsements. The city’s largest public-sector union and its executive director, Henry Garrido, have been vocal supporters of the proposed switch. Genovese, who retired from city service in 2021 after 23 years as a municipal employee, was also critical of Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, also a mayoral candidate, for not advocating on behalf of the retirees. Adams, who wields considerable influence in setting the Council’s agenda, has resisted efforts to calendar legislation that would preserve the retirees' current no-fee traditional Medicare and supplemental insurance, including a Marte bill. “I've seen such a lack of concern from City Council members. I mean, we don't even have transparency,” Genovese said, adding that she was incredulous at union endorsements of the Council speaker, including that of DC 37, which ranked her first. “They didn't want a hearing on our bills” she said of the Council following the conclusion of the town hall. “We are being pitted against actives,” Genovese added, alluding to current city employees. Marte, who is running for reelection to his downtown Manhattan Council seat, had earlier said as much, opening the event by rebuffing the city’s contention that switching the retirees to a Medicare Advantage plan was fiscally necessary. “Active employees are being told that if retirees aren't put on Medicare Advantage, then the unions will have to start charging high premiums for healthcare visits,” he said. Marte said Mayor Eric Adams and some municipal unions are in effect creating a breach between current city employees and those who have retired by “telling you that one group's healthcare has to be cut to support the other's healthcare.” He characterized as “misleading” unions’ claims to their active members that they will be paying an extra $1,500 a year for their benefits if the switch doesn't go through. “The unions wouldn't have to charge more money for healthcare if the city funded the stabilization fund,” said Marte, referring to a jointly city- and union-managed Health Insurance Premium Stabilization Fund, which props up municipal unions’ health and welfare-fund benefits. City officials have said the resulting savings from shifting to Medicare Advantage plan would replenish the fund, which is nearly dry. “But Mayor Adams and Speaker Adrienne Adams have not wanted to find an alternative funding source. They put all their eggs in one basket and that's the Medicare Advantage plan,” the Council member added. ‘Undemocratic and opaque’ Marte hosted the town hall just days after city officials announced that they were negotiating a cost-saving health benefit plan with two insurance companies they said would allow city employees to see more doctors, specialists and other clinicians than do their current plans. The proposal, which would be jointly administered by EmblemHealth and UnitedHealthcare, would cover about 750,000 employees, pre-Medicare retirees and their dependents, or 75 percent of the city’s workforce and their families. It, too, has the support of large municipal unions, including DC 37 and the United Federation of Teachers. Apart from that, he noted that Medicare Advantage plans have been widely criticized as inferior to traditional, government-administered Medicare, echoing arguments made during several court proceedings on the matter, all of them so far favoring the retirees. Marianne Pizzitola, the president of the Organization of Public Service Retirees, which is leading the opposition to the proposed switch, explained that despite some unions’ contentions to the contrary, unions cannot bargain on behalf of retirees, on the issue of health benefits or other matters. “We are not at that table. We are not in the room. We don't have a say on that conversation,” she said of talks between city officials and the Municipal Labor Committee regarding the proposed shift, which got underway in earnest during the de Blasio administration. As she has on numerous occasions, Pizzitola said the switch would break long-ago and perennial promises made to city workers. “We kept our end of the deal. They said, ‘come work for the city. You’ll never get rich. But when you retire, as in a form of deferred compensation’” municipal retirees will retain their premium-free Medicare and supplemental insurance. “We all know those words,” she said as several in attendance nodded in recognition. Another panelist, Neal Frumkin, the DC 37 Retirees Association’s former vice-president for interunion relations, also chided union leaders for intimating that unions can essentially bargain on behalf of retirees. “We were not privy to what went on in terms of these negotiations that affected more than 50,000 city employees who were represented by DC 37 retirees,” he said of the initial talks. Frumkin said attempts to speak with Garrido, who is also the MLC’s co-chair, and MLC Chair Harry Nespoli about the proposed switch were rebuffed. “This is a very undemocratic and very opaque process,” he said. Kyle Simmons, the president of Local 924, a DC 37 local representing city laborers, said the city’s plan to cut expenses by introducing Medicare Advantage for its retirees was misguided since it would amount to just a temporary fix. “What they're trying to do is not going to solve the issue. It's just like a regular Band-Aid and it's going to be pulled off because this is a national issue, not just a local issue,” Simmons said of escalating healthcare costs. If the city’s plan is instituted, he said, it would only serve to diminish services. “I think it's a slope that you don't really want to go down. Once you open up certain doors, it's hard to close,” Simmons said. “Let the retirees enjoy what they were promised. They're not asking for anything more.” richardk@thechiefleader.com ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

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