Two Rallies, A March down Broadway and a Funeral for the attempt by city and Mulgrew to modify Admin Code 12-126

Oh how they are keeping us old folk busy. I took the 10:15 ferry and when I got to City Hall around 11:45 there was already a big crowd. I was put on video duty so taped the rally which was very impressive with countless city unions repped. 

The Del Ass had so many angles I have to do a series of posts. But first --- the outside game. The entry to 52 was so crowded with people handing stuff out, I can understand why some people refused to take. I had only 100 Retiree Advocate leaflets (see a section with bullets on Admin code 12-126 and why changing it is a scam game cooked up by certain union leaders and the city and that was all I gave out. If I had more I would have stayed around to hand out to people coming out at 6 but I decided to take an early ferry back home.  

By the way -- if the city, as Mulgrew claims, can just impose a MedDISAdv plan on retirees unilaterally, WHY do they want to join the UFT etc in changing the code? What's in it for them? (Tip of hat to Daniel Alicea for pointing this out. - and James reminds me it was he who coined MulgrewCare - so tip of hat to him too.)

The outside game is so much more fun than being inside the DA. Wednesday was a long day with a large rally on Broadway outside the gates to the City Council as people from numerous unions lined the roadway urging everyone who went in not to change the admin code that opens the door to healthcare changes for retirees and in- service members, being pushed by both the City and the bigger unions in the MLC, with the UFT being the biggest, leading naturally to a lot of anti-Mulgrew sentiment. When a retired firefighter played a game of identify the scab, when he called out "UFT" the crowd responded with a loud "Mulgrew."

There's a lot of back story and front story. I don't even know where to start. 

The focus of the rallies was the joint city and (some) unions attempt to change the city council admin code 12-126 which is accomplished would affect not only retiree health care.

The rallies were built reinforced by this LEAKED AUDIO WITH COMMENTARY from Marianne Pizzitola: MLC Meeting on Admin Code 12-126 Amendment.

Eterno has a deep report: LEAKED RECORDING OF MLC MEETING SHOWS MULGREW LEADING CHARGE TO WEAKEN LAW PROTECTING CITY WORKER AND RETIREE HEALTHCARE

Jonathon Halabi posted these points from this illuminating leaked MLC meeting tape with commentary by Marianne. James Eterno spent hours listening to it and said it is a  must listen in order to understand what is going down. If you have 3 hours:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z21zhQ89e0

Marianne Pizzitola (retired EMT, leader of the group that's fighting Medicare Advantage) gets interviewed, and then listens to a leaked tape of an MLC (Municipal Labor Coalition) meeting.

3:40 - 7:00 she lays out the history of 12-126 (administrative code)

7:00 - 20:00 she lays out the current struggle, including implications for retirees AND in service.

20:00 - 38:00 is Mulgrew, Nespoli, and Klinger (lawyer)

At 39:15 - 43:00 the PSC rep speaks very clearly about what the options are, and why the PSC is opposing it. I think it should be mandatory to listen to this.

At 43:00  Alan Klinger says that they are putting out an RFP for in-service member health care.

 I took some photos of different unions:

Here's a livestream of the City Hall rally.

 

https://youtu.be/XqYoa96sPoU

 

 

 

And the march from City Hall down to 52 Broadway and the rally outside the DA from 3:30-4:30. The You tube channel is NYCforYourself.

NYC Retired Workers March from City Hall to UFT HQ to Call for Protection of Health Care Benefits

https://youtu.be/6BO5GN0cUJs

 

And here's a breakdown of why we don't want to buy what Mulgrew is selling on changing the admin code from the Retiree Advocate newsletter:

Healthcare Benefits threatened: Call your city council members to tell them to vote NOT TO CHANGE Administrative Code 12-126.

 

● Changing Administrative Code 12-126 would end the legal protection of retirees and current workers' premium-free health insurance.

● Private Medicare Advantage plans spend 25% less on patient care than traditional Medicare: more out of pocket expenses, fewer doctor choices, delays and denials of care, and even deaths. Patients on Medicare Advantage plans who get serious illnesses often flee back to traditional Medicare.

● The Adams Administration is pushing this change in order to do an “end run” around the fact that retirees won a lawsuit protecting our Medicare with supplemental insurance. The Court stated that the City could not force retirees to pay an extra $191 per month if they wanted to opt out of the Medicare Advantage Plan the city was forcing them into.

● Ultimately about 65,000 retirees chose to opt out of this plan, which shows how strongly retirees object to the Medicare Advantage Plan. The number would have been much higher but thousands of low paid municipal workers (mostly women and persons of color) cannot afford $191/month to keep quality traditional Medicare with the supplement they now have. NYC and our union should not encourage inequity in access to health care.

● Changing the Administrative Code would allow the City and the Municipal Labor Committee to create separate classes of workers (i.e. current employees, retirees) who would get separate classes (inferior quality) insurance. Given what the MLC is trying to do to retiree health coverage, “other groups” will be offered inferior plans to what they currently have.

● Code 12-126 requires the City to offer healthcare plans that cost less than the benchmark HIP-HMO premium. The amendment would allow the city to lower the HIP HMO bench mark currently at $900/month to a low $7.50/month and charge union members higher premiums for most healthcare plans.

● This savings will allow Michael Mulgrew to repay his 2014, $1 billion “loan” from the Health Stabilization fund that he depleted, to cover salary raises. He promised to repay by 2022.

● Medicare Advantage saves money for local and state entities that have existing health plans for retirees, but it does so by shifting the cost from the local government to the federal government. Either way, the taxpayer still pays. It’s a shell game and the health industry walks away with their pockets full.