Written and edited by Norm Scott:
EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!! MOBILIZE!!!
Three pillars of The Resistance – providing information on current ed issues, organizing activities around fighting for public education in NYC and beyond and exposing the motives behind the education deformers. We link up with bands of resisters. Nothing will change unless WE ALL GET INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE!
I disagree
with President Mulgrew's analysis. UFT retirees are neither fearful nor
anxious. We are clear-eyed and steadfast in our opposition to the
privatization of our public Medicare benefits. We are not the panicked
old fogies that President Mulgrew pictures us to be....Bennett Fischer, newly elected CL of the RTC/UFT responding (full text below) to Mulgrew's withdrawing support for Medicare Advantage
Dear Norm,
I cannot believe the letter I got from Michael Mulgrew. He is trying to
put forward that only the City and the Mayor were pushing this plan.
After everything, he still thinks we are stupid sheeple. What a lack of
respect. It would be funny if we didn’t know about the Herculean
struggle the retirees waged to save their healthcare. How does he have
the chutzpah to say these things. I cannot believe it. It makes
Unity’s credibility even weaker. They really do think the membership is
brainless. It is such an insult.
Susan Steinmann, UFT retiree
Monday, June 24, 2024
I'm getting ready to leave for a Retiree Advocate retreat today to try to make sense of what just happened. People are reaching out from all over and there is lots of talk about what it would take to defeat Unity in next year's election. But RA is going to focus on how best to run the 70k chapter, with or without help from the official union. We have lots to talk about.
There is more than a bit of sweet irony in Bennett's election and response since the last time he communicated with Mulgrew on the healthcare issue, Bennett was fired from his part-time UFT job.
Yesterday Mulgrew sent out his announcement. Today there is supposed to be an emergency meeting of the MLC (Municipal Labor Committee) today - I wonder why? There are also leaks that MLC is going broke due to enormous costs associated with hiring healthcare consultants' high fees for giving advice on how to create an abyss. MLC should ask for their money back.
Here is a video response Marianne made. She is somewhat magnanimous thanking the UFT for relenting. I find it funny that Mulgrew called me a liar at the May RTC meeting when he refused to take my leaflet. Mulgrew time and again claimed MedAdv was no different from Medicare -- "It's Medicare Part C," he would say - time and again. Exactly who is the liar?
Please read through the fantastic analysis by Vincent of the RTC meeting at the end of this piece.
We
thank Councilman Charles Barron and the brave co-sponsors of the City
Council for standing up to this thuggery by Mr. Garrido and introducing
Int. 1099, which will protect the earned Medicare benefits of their
constituents. ...NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees
Monday, June 26
The rally last Thursday was packed with retirees and supporters. When I left to catch the 2:30 ferry back to Rockaway there were still hundreds of people still hanging out. I have pics below. How interesting that Charles Barron, an open socialist, who has often been shut out of the mainstream, has become a hero to the retirees which includes people on the right. It proves something many of us on the left learned in our own schools when we won elections: stand up for people and they will look past your politics they disagree with. Other left wingers in the Council back us.
The other point is that the right wing Republicans also support us - my own Joanne Areola - I never vote Republican but on this issue alone I may vote for her next time.
This morning there is a press conference to expose Henry Garrido from DC 37 for his attack on the bill Barron presented. I've got a zoom at 10 so I'm not going to be there. The assumption has been that Mulgrew is also threatening City Council members who support the bill with no endorsements. They should call his bluff as those people will get the votes of 250K retirees which is worth more than a UFT endorsement, which has often been a kiss of death.
On the other hand, there is a theory floating around that if Mulgrew was smart (certainly far from a given) he would support the Barron bill, which would maintain the Senior Care option and allow people to remain in traditional medicare as a way out of the mess he's gotten himself and us in. It is pretty funny to see people I meet in other unions say what a rat Mulgrew is.
Speaking of rats:
One more point -- Retiree Advocate Caucus UFT and CROC - Cross Union Organizing Committee which includes retirees from other municipal unions, were involved in the rally and bought out their people.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 25, 2023
New
York City Organization Of Public Service Retirees Responds to Union
Boss Henry Garrido’s Misrepresentations & Smears on NY1 with Errol
Louis
PRESS CONFERENCE WITH COUNCILMAN BARRON
MONDAY, JUNE 26TH
11 AM
CITY HALL
On Thursday, June 22nd,
District Council 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido delivered a
two-page missive declaring legislation (Int. 1099) proposed by
Councilman Charles Barron of District 42 in Brooklyn, the most
irresponsible proposal in the history of the City Council. That same
day, the NY Daily News reported how Mr. Garrido was planning on
threatening council members who supported the legislation - not because
the bill to protect Medicare for retired public servants has merits -
instead, due to him making a deal with the devil to trade away those
benefits for his own enrichment.
Accordingly,
to try and clean up his bullying, he went on a P.R. sprint to justify
his actions by going on an unchallenged interview on NY1 with Errol
Louis to misrepresent and distort his actions without any fact-checking
or pushback.
Several
Unions - not all - within the Municipal Labor Committee bulldozed the
Municipal Retirees into an inferior Medicare Advantage Plan that will
cause some to lose access to their doctors, physicians, and treatment
facilities while undergoing severe ailments like cancer and dialysis run
by a company - CVS/Aetna - that's under investigation by the U.S.
Department of Justice for defrauding the Federal Government for Medicare
Fraud.
Moreover,
the NY Post Editorial published an OpEd laying out the true reasons for
this switch to a Medicare Advantage Plan by stating, "The projected
savings help fund the latest round of municipal labor contracts that
hike wages for cops, teachers, firefighters, sanitation and clerical
workers." ...
There we go.
“Mr.
Garrido admits his Stabilization Fund is empty, but he’s not telling
you they misused it and now are selling off retirees and the disabled
for a cash infusion. There are no $600 million savings to the NY
taxpayer as that money goes to the same unions stealing the benefits
earned and paid for by senior citizens and people with disabilities. He
should collectively bargain for benefits, something retirees can no
longer do. We live that adage, ‘If you don’t have a seat at the table,
you must be on the menu. Mr. Garrido picked the wrong main course!’”
said Marianne Pizzitola, President of the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees.
NYC
Municipal Retirees, all former Union workers, are being forced into a
privatized plan that will cause us harm in funding current workers'
raises. That is just wrong.
We
thank Councilman Charles Barron and the brave co-sponsors of the City
Council for standing up to this thuggery by Mr. Garrido and introducing
Int. 1099, which will protect the earned Medicare benefits of their
constituents.
###
Marianne Pizzitola
President
NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees
And
FDNY EMS Retirees Association
A few pics from the rally with credit to me and Denise Rickles from retiree Advocate.
Saturday, September 24 -- I almost lost track since I tested positive for covid for first time this week -- I can still type.
When did our unions become the fiscal hound dogs like Adams? Imagine he comes to the UFT and says no money for class size reductions but if every UFT member pays 191 bucks month we can make it happen. Let's pay for our own contract like Mulgrew is asking retirees to pay for what was free.
I got a call asking me to get more involved in the city council lobbying campaign being hit hard my our UFT misleaders who are telling the council people that the Unity Caucus stacked UFT retiree health committee supports changing the admin code which will free the unions and the city to offer me a choice of their privatized Med Adv plan or I can stick with my currently free plan for the cost of almost $400 a month for me and my wife. The city has been paying $191 a month for each of us to cover the 20% senior care uncovered by Medicare. Now I'd have to pick that up. I've been told that if the UFT gets its way, the city costs would drop to $7 a month per UFT member. That number should get us great coverage. But they can only get around the court case by convincing the council to change the admin code from 1967 which forces the city to pay much higher fees.
The reason was that the city wanted to only pay the 20% that Medicare didn't way and this addition to the code was viewed as a money saver in 1967. Even the massive fiscal crisis of the 70s didn't lead to calls to change the code.
Thanks a lot. And by the way, there are a bunch of Retiree Advocate (the caucus) members on that committee who oppose the changes but are given no voice at the town halls. The lobbyists on our side want to show the city council that the UFT top is a locked box where rank and file voices are stifled.
I got a quick primer on what exactly is going on with the changes. The admin code provision goes back to 1967 and covers retirees and working members for guaranteed city coverage of over $900 per member for health coverage. Due to Mulgrew 2014 raid of the stabilization fund to cover the raises for working teachers contract with back pay after 9 years without a contract, and a 2018 agreement to help the city cover healthcare costs, the unions owe the city a billion dollars and selling out the members on healthcare is the only way.
Actually, rather than have me interpret, watch this video from Marianne Pizzitola- a sentence by sentence explanation of the admin code - https://youtu.be/SiveIIwCaPc
Let me just interject that the two main competitors for the city contract are Emblem (which pulled out after the recent debacles over the court case) and CVS owned Aetna - by the way note this about the people we want to run our healthcare --
Yeah, these are the people I want our union to hand a $38 billion contract.
Eterno comments on ICEUFT blog:
The Municipal Labor Committee (an umbrella group of over 100 city government unions) is working with the city to try to get the City Council to change the Administrative Code (city law) on city employee healthcare benefits.
The UFT Contract entitles UFTers to a choice of premium free healthcare plans (see Article 3G1). The change in the law would make it only a choice of health plans. This is part of a checklist on what the UFT is currently doing that is part of the Chapter Leader Update:
Lobbying the New York City Council to amend the administrative code to state explicitly that the city must negotiate with the Municipal Labor Committee on all employee health care plans and must allow that city unions may negotiate for employees to have health care plan choices.
Notice they don't say choice of free healthcare plans. A judge threw out the city-MLC's attempt to move Medicare-eligible retirees into a Medicare Advantage Plan (privatized healthcare or what we termed Mulgrewcare) or pay premiums for what they have now.
The city is trying to change the law so they can easily end choices for premium-free coverage and impose the inferior Mulgrewcare. They could then charge around $400 a month for couples to keep traditional Medicare-Seniorcare that today costs $0 in premiums. Unions like the Professional Staff Congress are opposing the change. The city and MLC will be able to end premium-free healthcare choices for active UFTers and non Medicare retirees if the change passes in the City Council.
Here is a supporting response from Tiffany Caban, one of the most progressive city council members, a Dem Socialist (boo to you corp dems and republicans):
Good morning,
Thanks for taking the time to write. Our office is supportive of
retiree's having a choice in their healthcare coverage. CM Cabán was
among the signers of the Open Letter to cancel the proposed Medicare
Advantage Plus plan (attached) and continues to support
the current Medicare/Senior Care health insurance coverage for
municipal retirees. We are keeping an eye out for any legislation on
this topic that may appear in Council.
Best,
Steph Silkowski (she/her)
Chief of Staff
Council Member Tiffany Cabán
District 22, Queens
The above is in response to a letter from a UFT retiree on the Retiree Advocate listserve:
Dear Council Member Caban,
I am on your mailing list because I have supported you in the past. I believe we share the same political philosophy.
I am 78 years old, and my wife is 77. We are being threatened with a severe reduction in our healthcare by the plan to eviscerate the protection provided to New York City retirees and their spouses by § 12-126 of the city administrative code since 1967. The proposed changes would eliminate the cost-free guarantee to retirees and would pave the way to completely privatizing our Medicare/Senior Care.
The Medicare Advantage private insurance plan that would be forced upon us is significantly inferior to our current plan, which was cost-free until co-pays were recently added (in violation of §12-126) for breathing near any healthcare provider (slight exaggeration). That plan, or whatever replaces it, since Anthem pulled out, has a restricted network of providers, imposes financial liability on retirees if their out-of-network doctors do not obtain “prior authorization”, and, most important, incentivizes the private insurance company to deny expensive medical procedures, as they are allowed to keep anything they don’t spend on care.
Medicare Advantage companies typically deny medical procedures at a much higher rate than Medicare itself does, even though they are supposed to use the same rules. It’s all in the interpretation of those rules as applied, and depends completely on who is doing the interpreting. Last April, the HHS Inspector General came out with a scathing report exposing the significantly higher rate of denials of care by Medicare Advantage companies as compared to Medicare itself.
When an expensive procedure gets denied by the Medicare Advantage company, what happens? Either the patient goes without the necessary procedure, suffering health consequences or even death, or the patient comes up with the money somehow, and saves her own life by paying for what Medicare would have covered in the first place. THIS IS NOT A COST-FREE PLAN. The cost can be enormous. It violates §12-126, which requires cost-free healthcare (not merely premium-free). And there is no way to remedy this by tweaking the plan. It is the Medicare Advantage business model to spend less on healthcare by denying expensive procedures.
That’s why the Mayor and the complicit Municipal Labor Committee is now asking the City Council to destroy our guarantee of cost-free health care since 1967 by undoing §12-126.
Please, we beg you, do everything in your power to stop this atrocity.
