A Cynical Mulgrew Abandons MulgrewCare - If he can't gouge retirees out of 2K a year he's not interested - Plus Satire alert

I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too! ----Mulgrew threat to Retirees

Read between the lines and the wicked witch of 52 Broadway will get even with those opt-outers.

MULGREW JUST KILLED MAP!!!  HE THINKS THIS WILL WIN HIM THE ELECTION!!  NO WAY!! VOTE FOR UNITED FOR CHANGE!! ..... A Retiree in Florida

By the way -- this retiree has often been critical of me for being too left and would never vote for the left wing in a UFT election. Which shows the real threat to Unity from a center/left coalition that UFC is. 

 

Actually I don't buy that he killed MAP -- I think he will work to kill off retirees behind the scenes to force everyone into MAP.  

His statement calls for satirical treatment.

 

Satire Alert:

For Immediate Release – Thursday, March 3, 2022

 

UFT President Michael Mulgrew on NYC Medicare Advantage Plus Plan:

We believe in the NYC Medicare Advantage Plus plan and the excellent range of benefits it would have provided our retirees. However, the judge’s recent decision will effectively eliminate the savings the plan would have produced and that would have been re-invested in health benefits for our members. That is because anyone with half a brain and the economic ability to opt-out would have done so but we expected those who did opt out to be gouged out of $191 a month and double to include spouses, almost 5K a year, for the same services they have been getting for free. Now that the bastard judge has screwed us we are dumping our support of MAP, a plan I  just spent almost a year bragging about how I created it. But the judge did give me an out by telling the city if they don't even offer an opt out they can force everyone into the wonderful plan with silver sneakers. I will sit idly by and  cheer - or more probably work behind the scenes - to make sure everyone is screwed.

 

While the NYC Medicare Advantage Plus plan is sound, the program has suffered from serious implementation problems and poor legal arguments, particularly on the part of the city. Don't blame me; I only control the UFT and the MLC.

 

Now that I feel compelled to say this, I suppose Our retirees deserve better. Given the judge’s order, the UFT is withdrawing its support for starting the NYC Medicare Advantage Plus plan on April 1, 2022, and will urge the Municipal Labor Committee to suspend its efforts to begin the program until all the implementation and legal issues are resolved. Then we will really screw the retirees, but at least that will happen after this UFT election is over and I can continue to gaslight and pull the wool over their eyes.

Yes, if this plan was as good as I've pretended it was all these many months we would simply keep it in place as an option and retirees would flock to it, but no, not happening. As I write, the city's servers are crashing with all the opt-out requests. Sorry for all the, how do I say it - tsuris? We'll regroup and try to screw our awesome seniors better next time. (Geof, sorry bro, you're fired.) Peace out!

The real Mulgrew

We believe in the NYC Medicare Advantage Plus plan and the excellent range of benefits it would have provided our retirees. However, the judge’s recent decision will effectively eliminate the savings the plan would have produced and that would have been re-invested in health benefits for our members.

 As one retiree put it to me, if everyone opted out and paid the $191 a month, it would bring in $600 million. But they couldn't charge people without a flim flam.

I have read the decision and the way I read it is the city can go ahead and have only 1 plan and that being the Medicare advantage plan and if they did so that would be legally okay. They just can't charge a premium if they give retirees a choice of plans. This to me is going to be the worst of all worlds. I guess the question is what are the unions going to do now to stop them.

Manhattan judge strikes down NYC's plan to force retired city workers to pay to keep insurance they were promised for life

By Marcia Kramer

March 3, 2022 / 5:02 PM / CBS New York

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/manhattan-judge-strikes-down-nycs-plan-to-force-retired-city-workers-to-pay-to-keep-insurance-they-were-promised-for-life/

NEW YORK -- There was a major victory Thursday for 250,000 retired city workers.

A Manhattan judge struck down New York City's plan to alter their health benefits and make them pay to keep the the insurance they were promised for life. CBS2's Marcia Kramer first exposed the city's efforts to disenfranchise its workers last year.

A handful of retired workers stood outside the gates of City Hall to bask in the glow of a hard won, David-over-Goliath victory over former Mayor Bill de Blasio and his successor Eric Adams.

"You know, there's an expression that you can't fight city hall. They did and they won," retirees' lawyer Steve Cohen said.

Cohen was referring to a decision by Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Lyle Frank that prevents the city from pulling a bait and switch with the health insurance of 250,000 retirees. The city wanted to switch them to a less expensive program or force them to pay nearly $1,200 a year to keep their old insurance.

The judge said that while the city could offer the less expensive program, it couldn't charge people to stay in the old program because they were promised health benefits for life.

In his ruling, the judge said the city "is permanently enjoined from passing along any costs of the New York City retirees' current plan to the retirees."

"New York City cannot take away their health insurance in retirement. They are allowed to keep the subsidy that the city has paid for the last 40 years and keep their doctors and their medical care that they've earned over their many years of service," Cohen said.

When CBS2 first broke the story, Kramer reported on the difficult choice faced by people like former NYCHA employee Bill Shenton and his wife, Susan, who said they would be forced to pay money they can ill-afford to stay in the old plan because the new one would cover only a fraction of the medicine Susan takes for chronic lung disease. One drug alone costs $130,000 a year.

"I feel like it's a betrayal. We were told we'd have the same insurance that we had when we were working and it would cover our family," Shenton said.

"We are so grateful that we will not have to pay the $192 penalty every month, which we cannot afford," retiree Sarah Shapiro said.

"Good, quality, free medical insurance is a human right for everyone," retiree Gloria Bram said.

The retirees called on Mayor Adams not to appeal the judge's ruling, but it's not clear what the city will do. A spokesman for the mayor said the city is reviewing the decision and "evaluating our options."

In a surprise development, the United Federation of Teachers, which had enthusiastically supported moving retirees to a new, cheaper plan, withdrew its support for the move. Union President Michael Mulgrew called on the Municipal Labor Council to suspend efforts to start the new program until all implementation and legal issues are resolved.