‘I’ve Heard it Over and Over’ - Medicare Advantage Foes Give NYC’s Mayor an Earful

By Joe Maniscalco

New York City Mayor Eric Adams continues to ignore the objections of municipal retirees who refuse to give up the traditional Medicare coverage they were promised at the start of their civil service careers in favor of a Medicare “Dis-Advantage” plan built on lots of insurance industry profits and AI algorithms.

The latest episode happened Thursday night at an MS 88 town hall in Brooklyn where Hizzoner tried to assure Cross-union Retirees Organizing Committee member [CROC] Martha Cameron, 81, that the profit-driven Medicare Advantage program his administration is attempting to impose on her and the rest of New York City retirees and their families — present and future — will be the same health care coverage he’ll use when his time comes.

“When I go back into my retirement healthcare system, this is my healthcare — and I'm not going to harm my own health care,” the mayor said. “I've heard from all of you — I’ve heard it over and over — but your union leadership has put this plan together.”

That last bit is a variation of the same narrative the mayor tried out on Work-Bites in August . But it didn’t hold any water with well-informed retirees then, and it doesn’t now.

"His response, of course, didn’t have anything to do with it because we don’t have any representation,” Cameron told Work-Bites following the meeting. “Garrido doesn’t represent us, Mulgrew doesn’t represent us, and Nespoli doesn’t represent us — once you’re a union retiree you have no union representation. It’s that simple.”

Cameron was referring to DC37 Executive Director Henry Garrido, UFT president Michael Mulgrew and Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association President Harry Nespoli — the three-headed triumvirate at the helm of the Municipal Labor Committee — the umbrella organization ostensibly representing New York City’s public sector unions, but which is also spearheading privatization. 

“[The mayor’s] blaming the union leaders — he refuses to take any responsibility for this issue,” fellow CROC member Gloria Brandman told Work-Bites.

Cameron blasted the mayor for calling the plan to herd municipal retirees into a profit-driven Medicare Advantage plan a “bait and switch” on the campaign trail only to immediately flip-flop on the issue once in office.

“We thought, ‘boy…if he gets into office he's going to make sure that we don't get stuck with Medicare Advantage.’ And now here we are,” Cameron said, “we've had two lawsuits against the city paid for with our own $25 and $50 [donations] coming out of our pensions and Social Security [checks] to hire the lawyers — and we're facing the city lawyers who are being paid for with city tax dollars. So, the city is fighting its own retirees.”

Cameron also highlighted the existential threat profit-driven Medicare Advantage programs pose to real Medicare costing the federal government “something like $147 billion in fraudulent claims” while paying fat cat CEOs tens of millions of dollars in compensation.

“That system of Medicare Advantage is bleeding Medicare dry,” Cameron said. “It’s going to affect every single person in this room when they retire because there will be no Medicare.”

The mayor, for his part, called the nation’s health care system a broken “mess” that could “bankrupt our entire country.” He also spent much of the evening touting his administration’s effectiveness dealing with everything from rats to climate change, while also decrying a lack of necessary funding to deal with an influx of migrants seeking work. 

“We need to change this healthcare system, you don't get any disagreement from  me,” the mayor told Cameron. “But when the union presidents that represent the membership have all come to the table and agreed…we can't go back and say that they're going to hurt their membership when they represent the membership.”

NYS Assembly Member Robert Carroll [D-44th District], co-sponsor of state-level legislation aimed at protecting public sector workers from further healthcare privatization, told Work-Bites the City of New York made a commitment to municipal retirees that it needs to honor.

“I don’t see the Medicare Advantage plan as one saving the city unbelievable sums of money — and I think it really is a lesser healthcare plan,” he said.

The assembly member also stressed the importance of making sure municipal retirees living on fixed incomes can afford to be treated at the city’s top-flight hospitals.

“My mother was able to retire, in part, because of the benefits at her job as a UFT member and New York City public school teacher afforded her,” he added. “I think it’s very simple — if there’s belt-tightening that needs to be had, we need to talk about that going into the future. We can’t change the deal after the fact.”

State Supreme Court Judge Lyle Frank has repeatedly ruled in favor of retirees and blocked the Adams administration from implementing the Medicare Advantage contract it signed with Aetna back in March.

Pending legislation in the New York City Council, meanwhile,  would further shield retiree health care from privatization if passed.

Council Member Charles Barron [D-42nd District], lead sponsor of Intro. 1099, calls Mayor Adams both “arrogant and ignorant” on the issue. 

“The union leaders do not represent the retirees — that’s number one,” he told Work-Bites on Friday. “Number two — he can’t say, ‘this is what I’m going to do’ — he’s delusional. That’s up to the courts and the city council. If the courts deny his appeal then he is not going to do it. And if the city council members finally come around and stand up for the retirees the way they should — he couldn’t stop that either. The mayor is out of touch. He is very arrogant and ignorant and insensitive to our retirees in regards to this issue.”

Earlier this week, New York City retirees joined with members of the Connecticut Citizen Action Group and their allies for a protest march on the offices of Aetna and UnitedHealth in Hartford.

Retirees held a “pop-up” protest outside MS 88 on Thursday night before some went inside the meeting to challenge the mayor directly.

“This fight is going on all over the country,” Cameron said. “TWU Local 100, they’re getting pushed onto Medicare Advantage, too — they will join the fight as well.”