June 22, 2023
Municipal retirees slated for a forced migration into a Medicare Advantage scheme by the Adams administration were thrown a lifeline today in the City Council. Council Member Charles Barron introduced legislation that would “require the City to offer Medicare-eligible city retirees and their Medicare-eligible dependents at least one Medigap plan with benefits equivalent to or better than those available to city retirees and their dependents as of December 31, 2021. The bill would not impair employee organizations from negotiating terms and conditions of employment for their employee members.”
Aetna, sponsor of the so-called Advantage plan, won the $15 Billion contract over the strenuous objections of the retirees’ association. They say that it’s a downgrade of the coverage they’d been promised during their decades of public service. The proposed shift also ignores the City Comptroller’s refusal to sign off on the contract. Mayor Adams is determined to make it happen anyway, and insists that the new coverage will be just as good and that it will save the City millions of dollars.
Marianne Pizzatola (center) fires up activists outside City Hall.
In a show of solidarity today, Plumbers Union and TWU Local 100 members joined more than a hundred municipal retirees at a rally outside of City Hall today. While Council Member Barron was inside City Hall introducing the bill, the activists watched the proceedings on a huge video screen on Broadway. Former EMS medic and current President of the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees, Marianne Pizzatola, addressed the activists on Broadway. She first summarized the history of Medicare since LBJ and then scorched DC 37 Director Henry Garrido who had threatened to pull endorsements and other campaign help from Council Members that support Barron’s legislation. The NY Daily News reported they obtained a recording of him making those threats.
Charles Barron (center) with a retiree.
*qphotonyc is a retired NYC public employee.
Correction: an earlier version identified the retirees as ‘municipal employees.’