Mayor Adams:
For the last three years, your administration has fought to strip New York City’s public service retirees of their promised Medicare benefits. The teachers, police officers, fire fighters, sanitation workers, engineers, 9/11 first responders, and all public servants who dedicated their careers to making New York City the greatest city on the planet deserve the retirement benefits they were promised over the course of decades. Your relentless campaign to strip retirees of these benefits is not only an insult to their service, but it has continuously been ruled as illegal. Your ongoing efforts to force retirees into a Medicare disAdvantage plan is a drain on City resources and is a shameful dereliction of your duty to serve and protect all New Yorkers. Therefore, we demand that you:
- Stop forcing retirees into Aetna’s Medicare Advantage plan by immediately withdrawing your appeal in Bentkowski v. The City of New York.
- Commit to honoring the promise made to retirees by ensuring affordable access to a traditional Medicare plan with supplemental (MediGap) coverage.
- Commit to not increasing the cost of health benefits to public service retirees by withdrawing your appeal in NYC Org. of Pub. Serv. Retirees, Inc. v Campion.
- Immediately rescind the recent decision to charge a $15 copay for each interaction with the healthcare system.
- Hold a public town hall meeting with retirees to hear retirees’ concerns and engage in a good faith discussion about the future of their promised benefits.
- Publicly state your support for a resolution in the City Council to never strip retirees of their promised benefits, specifically by ensuring access to Traditional Medicare with a supplemental plan.
- Publicly state your support for Senate Bill 8388 / Assembly Bill 7866, which would prohibit public employers from diminishing health benefits for retirees by forcing them into the privatized so-called “Medicare Advantage” plans.
- Publicly state your support for federal legislation that would expand Traditional Medicare to cover vision, hearing and dental benefits, add a cap on out of pocket expenses to beneficiaries, reduce Part B premiums and recoup overpayments to insurance companies offering Medicare disAdvantage plans.
- Publicly state your support for federal legislation that would remove the word “Medicare” from the name of Part C plans.
It is time for your administration to make good on the promises made to the public servants who worked for The City of New York!
Sincerely,
Be A Hero
New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees
Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition
Citizen Action of NY
New York Progressive Action Network
Cross-Union Retirees Organizing Committee (CROC NY)
Physicians for a National Health Program
Physicians for a National Health Program – NY Metro
Center for Health and Democracy
Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action
People’s Action