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On this episode of The Labor Week with host Mark Harrison, New York municipal retirees speak out about what it really means to have their traditional Medicare healthcare benefits stripped from away from them and replaced with a privatized Medicare Advantage program.

“I’m here to protect the benefits the city swore they’d provide for me for life,” FDNY retiree and 9/11 first responder Gerry Bellis says. "It hasn’t happened — they’re trying to take it away. They’re reneging on all their contracts and throwing in the gutter my sacrifice as a South Bronx firefighter.”

New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees Marianne Pizzitola and Assembly Member Kenneth Zebrowski also talk about the need for a “national coalition” to fight the privatization of Medicare happening across the United States.

New York City Council Member Charles Barron has introduced legislation to safeguard retiree healthcare at the local level, while Assembly Member Zebrowski has introduced legislation to protect municipal retiree healthcare at the state level.

“This can’t be a one person, one group fight — this needs to be a national coalition of those who support public health benefits and Medicare,” Pizzitola says.”

Watch the entire segment below: