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Dear Council Member Justin Brannan:
In one of our recent email exchanges, you mentioned that NYC public service retirees had asked the City Council not to change Administrative Code 12-126, a change that would have allowed the city to charge retirees for a portion of their health coverage, and that the Council gave us what we asked for.
Eric Adams, when running for mayor, stated very clearly that the Medicare issue "seems like a bait and switch."
We have now entered the Medicare Nuclear Age where the City of New York will take no prisoners. Adams activated the nuclear football. We are now given (forced into) a radioactive Aetna Medicare Advantage Plan.
Clever. Very clever. "The promise that the city pays the entire cost of health insurance coverage for city employees, city retirees and their dependents is not a promise that can ever be broken."
By the letter of the law, the football has stayed within bounds. By the spirit of the law, it went over the line, out into the street and down the sewer.
So much for that "sacred covenant between the city and its workers-especially retirees."
I have several times asked to meet with you to more fully understand your position in this matter. When can we do so?
Respectfully,
Jack La Torre
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ParkSlopeG
It appears that most of the City Council members have now been intimidated into silence on this issue. My guess is that the big municipal unions have threatened to withhold support for their reelection campaigns if they oppose this imposition of Medicare Advantage on retirees. And I’m guessing that this is the same reason that Mayor Adams suddenly supported this after he was elected. He had told us that he was opposed to this before he was elected.
I will not be voting for any incumbents who do not support the retirees in this fight.
Wednesday, May 24, 2023 Report this