City made a promise to our workers, and they must keep it

Over the past few years, municipal retirees have had to anxiously grapple with the prospect that they may have to switch health care plans from the Medigap plan promised to them, to a Medicare Advantage plan. I know that promise — I was made the same promise when I began my career as a public school special education teacher more than years ago.

Now, that promise is threatened, and I remain staunchly opposed to requiring municipal retirees to switch to a Medicare Advantage plan. I am thrilled the courts have recently ruled in favor of our municipal retirees. While there are inherent problems with for-profit, Medicare Advantage plans that the federal government has endorsed — and New York state still has not passed the New York Health Act — rising health care costs are a problem the city now has to grapple with.

However, the financial bottom line should not overshadow our obligations. For years, I have raised a number of issues related to this switch, and will continue to do so.

Our city needs to keep its promises, plain and simple. For generations, city workers were told that they may not make as much money as their friends in the private sector, but they would have more security in the form of a pension and Medigap coverage in retirement.

Now, on top of any health issues they may be dealing with, retirees are saddled with stress and uncertainty around what a Medicare Advantage plan might mean for their life-saving treatments.

What does it say to the current and future municipal workforce that a promise made to them today may not hold a few years down the line? In other words, as I stated in a January hearing, “Why the hell should someone work for the city if things we were told we were going to get are essentially being taken away from us?”

It is a betrayal of trust, and disregards the very essence of commitment.

I have also been consistent and clear with the city that they have done a terrible job bringing municipal retirees to the table. As I stated to the prior administration in an October 2021 civil service and labor committee hearing, “retirees weren’t represented, there didn’t seem to be retiree input, (and) suddenly there is a new plan.”

Even supposing this plan is better than retirees’ current Medigap plan, I stated, “It’s only a five-year guarantee,” referring to the length of the current proposed contract. Municipal retirees deserve to have their voice heard, and that includes a seat at the table where the administration can directly hear their needs, and where something may actually be worked out to provide city retirees the coverage they were promised.

Fundamentally, retirees should be able to keep their Medigap plan if they so choose. If the administration cannot bring everyone to the table, that’s where the courts step in. The courts have the strongest legal authority in New York. The recent example of the migrant crisis is the clearest demonstration that the courts can compel the city to take action in a way that executive orders and legislation cannot.

New York City is required to house everyone because of our “Right to Shelter” law (although I do also believe we have a moral responsibility to shelter everyone). “Right to Shelter,” however, is not actually a law. We are legally mandated to provide shelter to everyone because of a 1981 consent decree from the courts.

Because the courts have clear and unequivocal authority, the courts are our best path forward to securing the Medigap coverage municipal retirees were promised.

Retirees are not just numbers on a balance sheet. They are the people that dedicated their professional lives to keeping our city running, educating our children, and delivering essential services. The city may save a few bucks on that balance sheet, but as I said in our October 2021 hearing, “The city’s interests are its residents.”

Whether at City Council hearings or in the courts, I will continue to support our retirees as they look to secure their promised Medigap coverage as a free option.

The author is the city councilman representing the greater Riverdale area of the Bronx