![]() The city Law Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “But that’s probably not going to happen until we find a solution for the health contract,” he noted.Ī spokesperson for City Hall said “We are reviewing the court’s decision and evaluating our options.” DC 37 members have been working under an expired contract since May and the union is seeking to set a new wage and benefit pattern for the entire city workforce. He announced the UFT is withdrawing its support for the April 1 start date “and will urge the Municipal Labor Committee to suspend its efforts to begin the program until all the implementation and legal issues are resolved.”Īnd Henry Garrido, executive of District Council 37, the city’s largest municipal union, said the ruling would require his labor organizations and others to renegotiate with the city. Our retirees deserve better,” said Mulgrew in a statement. “While the NYC Medicare Advantage Plus plan is sound, the program has suffered from serious implementation problems and poor legal arguments, particularly on the part of the city. Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, urged reworking the labor deal to ensure the promised reinvestment will still be realized. We’re grateful to the judge for seeing through all that the city tried to put forth,” he said.īut the ruling also creates a new complication for City Hall and municipal unions, by disrupting the expected boost to funding for union member health benefits from reinvestment of the plan’s savings. “They’re happy they’re going to be protected and they’re going to have their doctors. Steve Cohen, the lawyer for the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees, the group that sued to block the switch, said that Frank’s ruling was “an unequivocal win” for retirees. Judge Frank’s order said that as long as the retirees’ current health care program, known as GHI Senior Care, continues to exist as an option, it must be offered to retirees free of charge. Members and sponsors make THE CITY possible. Retirees currently receive their insurance package - traditional Medicare plus a supplemental program for treatments not covered by Medicare - free of charge.Įspecially for retirees at the lower end of the city’s pension scale, which bottoms out around $15,000 a year, that cost threatened a significant financial burden. The city had planned to force retirees to enter the new privately administered Retiree Health Alliance plan, or pay $191 per person per month to maintain their current coverage. The ruling was a partial win for the city, which under former Mayor Bill de Blasio reached agreement with municipal unions to pursue the Medicare switch and other cost savings as existing workers sought raises.īut it’s also a victory for the group of retirees who sued to stop the switch, citing fears of higher costs, smaller networks, and greater administrative obstacles to accessing health care and preferred doctors under the new plan. But the city must now let current and future retirees opt out of the shift and maintain their current health care free of charge. The ruling from Judge Lyle Frank in Manhattan state Supreme Court allows a joint city-union effort to shift retired municipal workers’ health coverage from traditional Medicare to a privatized Medicare Advantage program by April 1 to proceed. A years-long fight over a planned cost-cutting change to retired city employees’ health coverage reached a critical juncture Thursday with a judge’s decision that allows retirees to choose to keep their current plan.
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