Written and edited by Norm Scott:
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Scheinman is basically a scribe for the City-MLC, not an independent arbitrator.... James, ICE Blog
More from Jonathan:
Collusion: I have made the case before: Mulgrew, Nespoli, Garrido, the whole
MLC, Scheinman, Adams, and the City’s financial administration, starting
with the OLR, plus the insurance companies – they are all working in
concert. They are colluding. And they leave the evidence all over the
place ...I am absolutely convinced that Scheinman worked with the City and the
leadership of the MLC unions, including Mulgrew’s people, in creating
his 12/15/22 “Opinion and Award.” JD271Collusion and Bullying by OLR/UFT/MLC (Mulgrew et al)
UFT Ex Bd member Nick chimes in at New Action on the brewing UFT/MLC/Adams/Scheinman Scandal:
Nick has also been pointing out that Mulgrew and Unity try to paint the thousands of people who opted out and support the battle to preserve our healthcare as the bad guys:
Scandal ridden healthcare is what Mulgrew, another scam artist, is trying to put us into. And he claims going with Aetna, owned by CVS, will save money.
Nothing like overbilling to save money. And this:
I reported on the Scheinman decision at ed notes yesterday:
Scheinman is not an independent arbitrator here. He has been chairing
the Tripartite City-MLC commission on healthcare. How does he have
jurisdiction in this matter as the City and union leaders are basically
in agreement here?
Jonathan agrees with James about Scheinman having no jurisdiction:
Scheinman’s decision-making power as the arbitrator for the
Tripartite Health Insurance Policy Committee arises in the case of a
dispute
Where is the dispute? Does Scheinman actually have any authority
here? There are no positions for the parties, because the parties appear
to be not in dispute. Everyone agrees about who needs to get screwed
(me, and you).
Scheinman NOT designated arbitrator for Medicare Advantage issue
Oh, and oh no. Scheinman has been named to resolve disputes on items
1-4 in Appendix B. But the current issue, Medicare Advantage, comes from
item 5. The agreement doesn’t cover point 5. Maybe that’s why Scheinman
does not begin by establishing his authority? Point 5 only calls for
recommendations.
UFT Ex Bd member Ibeth Mejia at Ex Bd meeting, Nov. 21, 2022
Most retirees do not
want to be forced into a privatized Medicare Advantage plan where some
health insurance company can get even richer on our backs. Strong unions
like the UFT should be taking on these insurance giants... this is clearly a splitter issue. It is the MLC
leaderships and their supporters against the rank and file retirees.....
Given Mulgrew's walkback of the contention that all doctors who took
Medicare would take the Advantage plan, we know the advice he gets and
relays to us is less than reliable. As far as I know, those same people
are still sitting around, getting paid by our dues money, and giving him
the same awful advice. There is no way I want to be at the mercy of
some company whose profits are more important than my health....Imagine my surprise, then, when I saw this NY Times article comparing
traditional Medicare to Advantage plans. I'd figured Medigap programs
must be prohibitively expensive. Otherwise, why would all those members
be queuing to pay 191 bucks a month? How much was it? 500 bucks? A
thousand? Here's what the NY Times says on that:
So not only were we not being offered a particularly good deal, but the
price we were being charged was on the high end.
[Let me chime in on Arthur's point - the $250 a month I pay for two of us for the UFT drug plan (it was $300 for years). We were reimbursed $840, a little less than half, so the actually cost was $80
dollars a month. We were reimbursed . ... I could get a similar or better plan at Costco.... so I don't get the taketh away and giveth back policy -- why not just charge $80 a month? Unless there's something going on I can't see ----- Like let's find a gimmick to make the union look like it's giving us ice water in the winter -------Norm]
Question period: Ed Calamia: What is our exit strategy if the amendment to 12-126 does not pass?
Geoff Sorkin (head of UFT Welfare Fund): Cannot give you answer right now. MLC is working on it.
Right now our focus is on changing the administrative code.
Lydia: Which companies answered the RFP for in-service healthcare? Who are we actually considering working with?
Geoff Sorkin: I signed a nondisclosure agreement, so not available for public consumption at this time.
Oh, boy, our union leaders can't tell us which blood-sucking health industry giant we want to hand our money too because they signed a NDA. Nick posted the entire United for Change reso which called for looking for alternate sources and the debate that followed here. A short closing resolved:
Be it further resolved that the UFT will take the lead urging the MLC
to wage a full-scale campaign, by organizing rallies, protests, and
buses to Albany to push the City and State to institute or restore these
revenue sources, which could be used to secure the continued stability
of our members’ and retiree’s health care. Signed by: Ronnie Almonte, Nick Bacon, Ed Calamia, Lydia Howrilka, Alex Jallot, Ibeth Mejia, Ilona Nanay
I love this crew and I schlepped to the meeting from Rockaway to support them Monday night. Look to the sources of rising healthcare prices like a stock transfer tax.
I especially appreciate Ibeth, who hit all the hot points in her brief speech (read it all at Nick's post). She made a great political point by quoting a political mix of City Council members who oppose changing the Admin Code: a Republican, a left wing Democrat and a more moderate Democrat
Council Member
Joann Ariola (R-Queens) told Work-Bites she had fielded thousands of
queries from constituents on the Medicare Advantage controversy and that
it was running 10 to 1 against making the change in the Administrative
Code sought by Mayor Adams and the MLC leadership.
Brooklyn
Council Member Charles Barron, (D-Brooklyn) said he was “100 percent
with the retirees…because I think they have to keep the commitment they
have because it’s beneficial for those who paid their dues and I think
the Medicare Advantage approach is privatizing."
"Healthcare
costs are out of control,” said Council Member Gale Brewer
(D-Manhattan). "I have been lobbied by both sides but at this point, I
am supportive of the retirees.”
It's
not just the city council but rank and file union members across the
city unions uniting right leaning uniformed with left leading teacher
dissidents. Who ever thought you'd find MORE and police on the same
side? The UFT, as it often is, is on the wrong side of history.
I
copied this from Breaking Points segment on Nov. 22 where they pointed a
recent piece by Josh Hawley of all people urging Republicans to go after the working
class by criticizing corp profits -- just propaganda I believe but interesting and a sign of a reversal as Dems (and their partners leading the AFT/UFT) suck up to corp donors. Dems did some light work in this regard in the election which I
think actually helped in the end when Biden pointed to the energy
industry profits. Our union leaders should be leading the way on health
industry profits.
UFT,
Dems tail as Americans of both parties turn against banks and corporate
greed -- Krystal and Segaar take a look at this segment ---
https://youtu.be/RVpRIbZqbuc?t=699 or watch the entire 20 minute
worthwhile piece at https://youtu.be/RVpRIbZqbuc
Let's Blame the retirees instead of the health insurance industry
And let me point out Nick ran with Unity in 2019 - just think of the people the leadership has alienated (Daniel Alicea voted for Unity in 2019) who have become leading lights of the oppo. I'm certainly glad Nick is on our side:
In 2018, UFT leadership went even further, when it lied to membership about our new contract, telling us all that there were no givebacks, only to sneak in a backroom deal to annually find
hundreds of millions of dollars in healthcare savings. Even with an
expired contract, we are obligated to find these savings for the City.
In the plethora of propaganda that has been shoved down our members throats, nowhere has it been explained why UFT would ever agree to reduce the City’s healthcare spending in the midst of record inflation. Something just doesn’t add up.
It sure doesn't add up.
UFT leadership, seeing they were losing in their campaign to change the admin code in the city council so they can charge retirees almost $200 a month for the same plan they have been getting or force then into a MedAdv plan, has gone into full scale panic mode by sending out notices to chapter leaders to call the city council using threats to their own healthcare. I heard rumors of a phone meeting held in Queens where misleading propaganda was given out. One Queens chapter leader posted "I
was at last night’s Zoom meeting with the Queens UFT. I’m going to
share the latest court ruling with my chapter Wednesday morning and the
script to NOT change the code. We had a very negative meeting with the head of the Queens UFT last year, which no one in my chapter has forgotten…"
Defending the indefensible as health care costs rise way beyond the currently high inflation.
Amazing
how UFT leadership lines up with corporate greed instead of pointing to
it as a chief cause of rising healthcare costs. Why? These corps are
big donors to the Dem (and Rep) party. We did see some virtue signalling
from Mulgrew in private meetings about corp greed but when push comes
to shove they cave and try to force the costs on to us.
Nick brings home the bacon with this point:
We’ve suspected for a while that UFT Leadership’s ‘strategy’ is to
let healthcare implode and scapegoat opposition when it does, an absurd
act that would put millions of members and their families at risk all
for political gain. But what options do they have? After all, our union
is on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in annual healthcare
savings, and grassroots retiree organizations have blocked the specific
ways that the UFT/MLC tried to make those savings on the backs of our
most vulnerable members. Any solution, like taxing the rich, is too
radical for UFT leadership. To be clear, I responded to Sorkin. So did many others in the
opposition. Sorkin had no real response, other than name calling. Let’s
hope the people in charge of our union and the MLC wise up and fix this
before it’s too late. The lifeline we gave on stock transfers and
corporate taxes is still on the table. Please use that, Mr. Sorkin.
Don’t let healthcare fail, then falsely scapegoat opposition for
political gain.
Sorkin and Mulgrew under cones of silence by signing non disclosure agreements they
claim as their excuse for not informing people. At the Nov. 8 Retired Teacher meeting Mulgrew was asked by a retired secretary who cannot afford to pay over 2K a year to opt out of the forced MedAdv plan why the botched rollout originally and why should she trust him now and he punted it to blame the city and Emblem and his signing a Non Disclosure.
The job of union is to
defend members, not the employer and corp greed. Sorkin called the unique MedAdv plan "Revolutionary" -
for sure when union leaders team up with the employer to mess with
member healthcare and then hide behind Non disclosure agreements. The Health
insurance industry makes massive profits and raise costs and UFT leaders want to help them do even better with a fat contract while they should be
exposing their profits and high exec salaries and stock buybacks on our
backs. Demand they reduce high profit margins before we pay a dime more. Don’t whine about high health care costs. Fight them instead of us.
I copied this from Breaking Points segment on Nov. 22 where they pointed a recent piece by Josh Hawley urging Republicans to go after the working class. Dems did some light work in this regard in the election which I think actually helped in the end when Biden pointed to the energy industry profits. Our union leaders should be leading the way on health industry profits.
UFT, Dems tail as Americans of both parties turn against banks and corporate greed -- Krystal and Sagaar take a look at this segment --- https://youtu.be/RVpRIbZqbuc?t=699 or watch the entire 20 minute worthwhile piece at https://youtu.be/RVpRIbZqbuc.
Today Mayor Adams, Harry Nespoli (Sanitation), and the UFT’s own lame
duck, Michael Mulgrew, are off trying to change the law, as an end-run
around the ruling. Section 12-126 of the administrative code protects
workers and retirees against exactly the type of scheme these guys are
trying to force on us. Call, email, tweet, write – let your city council member know how you feel “Do Not Amend 12-126. Do Not Amend the Code.”
Today Adams, Nespoli, and Mulgrew are trying to smear their opponents
– the members, the retirees, us, the people who have so far blocked
their plans to cut our healthcare.
Today Adams, Nespoli, and Mulgrew are off trying to find a new vendor
for Medicare Advantage. They will eventually find a vendor – the deal
is too good – take federal money – and the more procedures you deny, the
more $$$ doesn’t get spent on healthcare – the bigger your profits will
be.
Lame duck Mulgrew? I have a half-written blog called Whither or Wither Mulgrew. Should be a fun Thanksgiving weekend.
It’s beyond disheartening to learn
what a miserable job our negotiators did for us in 2018. All our hours
on the Contract Committee were wasted, since leadership made a
counter-productive deal behind our back. They sacrificed our health care
to win only modest gains. Our Contract Committee is a sham, UFT has the
worst negotiating team in the world, and every member of that team
should be impeached or fired. --AG
Another brilliant piece from Arthur - for the record - I couldn't vote on the 2018 contract but urged a NO vote - why? Because I never trust the UFT/Unity Caucus leadership on contracts - or other issues. But also note - they claim their plan is not Joe Namath. How do we know?
Then-Mayor de Blasio speaks to the UFT (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)
A long-time UFT chapter leader I know
used to joke, “There are two things wrong with our union—the leadership
and the membership.” I’ve been very involved with the teachers union,
both in opposition and alongside leadership, and I couldn’t agree more.
That two-pronged problem with our union is evident in the saga over
major changes to health care for retired and current teachers.
Last week Retiree Advocate had 250 people, mostly retirees. This is run by MORE which should bring working teachers to the table as we fight the Mulgrew attempt to divide (and blame) retirees for fighting back.
Retiree Advocate is doing a zoom on Sunday Nov. 6 7PM to address questions people may have and to expose the confusion created by the the joint operation of the city and some of the unions, led by Mulgrew in the UFT and DC 37, the largest components who dominate the MLC (Metropolitan Labor Committee) who make deals with the city that control our health care. We may not have all the answers but we have some answers. We are hoping to have Marianne Pizzitola join us but if she can't make it we have some knowledgeable people.
MORE is planning another zoom in the same issue a week later at the same time and Marianne is definitely going to be there.
Exposing the Adams/Mulgrew Threat to Our Healthcare: Untangling the Confusion
This Sunday, Nov 6 at 7PM, Retiree Advocate/UFT is holding a Zoom Info Meeting to share what we know - and what we don't know - regarding the current healthcare crisis in our unions.
Learn what role Mulgrew and other union leaders in the MLC have been playing in partnership with Mayor Adams and the Office of Labor Relations.
New information is coming in constantly and we are trying to stay up to date. This meeting will share info & analysis, and try to answer your questions.
Attendance will be limited to 100. Meeting will be recorded for those who cannot make it.
Here are some comments I gleaned from some of the listserve discussions after a district rep sent out an appeal to chapter leaders to get their staffs to call the city council to change the admin code. As Jonathan says in his current blog: Administrative Code 12-126 – Line by line:
The code today means:
“The City pays an amount equal to the cost of HIP”
The code if the Mulgrew/Nespoli/Adams amendment goes through will say:
The City pays the cost
of HIP, and no more than that, or else some other amount – and that
amount could be different for different groups of city workers, and
there is no limit on how low those amounts might be.
When you call your city council member, please explain this to them
as you urge them to protect workers and retirees, and reject the
amendment.
Comments from RA listserve:
It's
pure pap! All one has to do is read the amendment language. Your DR is
asking you to not believe your own eyes or use your own brain. The
amendment reaffirms nothing because Judge Frank's ruling changed
absolutely nothing. His ruling merely said that retirees are protected
from paying premiums, specifically on the now-dormant Medicare Advantage
Plus plan, because of price protections built into the city code.
It's not hard to understand the amendment. Just look at it. It does two things and two things only: First it strips
healthcare price protections, for ALL current and retired municipal
employees, by yanking those protections out of city law, and placing
them in the hands of OLR lawyers and union bosses. Second, it allows city bureaucrats to classify municipal employees into separate, as yet undefined, categories. That's a prospect that begs the creation of tiered, unequal levels of coverage for past and present city workers.
I bet your DR wouldn't wish that on her mother's health plan!
, or in the alternative,
This means, "What was said before this doesn't count."
in
the case of any class of individuals eligible for coverage by a plan
jointly agreed upon by the city and the municipal labor committee to be a
benchmark plan for such class,
This means,
"For anyone and everyone in city employment, the benchmark price -
formerly established as the cost of the HIP-HMO plan, and until now
protected by this law - can now be chosen by the MLC and OLR. We don't
need no stinkin' law, made by stinkin' elected legislators, to tell us
what to do! And if we want to, we can have multiple plans, and multiple
benchmark prices, for multiple classes of people, and we can change that
any time we like. So there!"
not to exceed the full cost of such benchmark plan as applied to such class.
This means, "When we say your brand new benchmark plan costs only ten bucks, but you want to stay in your old plan; the one that costs five hundred bucks - and that we will still offer because we believe in freedom of choice - no
problem! Just cough up the $490. But hey, if you want, you can have our
super-duper $5 or $8 plan for free! Because, you know, choice!"
And some Media links to articles:
An excellent article below from Work-Bites
Beware of the Mad Dash to Medicare Advantage
By Joe Maniscalco
Commentary
So, some of the most powerful people in town are warning the rest of us that the most pressing — the most urgent — the most vital issue — facing the City of New York right now is the need to immediately privatize healthcare for municipal retirees — or else. I dunno about you, but this kind of thing reminds me of that time working people were told we had to bail out the big banks.
Remember, it wasn’t that long ago when then U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson put up a scary countdown clock and told everyone in the country we had to cough up $700 billion to bail out the financial sector — right away — no time for talk — no deliberation — or all was lost.
Paulson got his money.
A few years later writing for Rolling Stone, Matt Taibbi called TARP — the Troubled Asset Relief Program — a “lush nightmare of unintended consequences” and “one of the biggest and most elaborate falsehoods ever sold to the American people.”
The City Council must enable budget-cutting new health
insurance options for retirees, warns Eric Adams’s chief labor
negotiator — or City Hall will eliminate existing insurance plans
We're all in the same boat, we've painstakingly carved out a hole in it, and we're sinking fast. Leadership had better wake up some time before we hit bottom... Arthur Goldstein, NYC Educator
Unity probably thinks Mulgrew hit a home run - an LOL moment
Some thinking inside the Unity machine is this was a brilliant move to get the rank and file involved in pushing their case by threatening working teachers with a $1500 healthcare payment each year and urging them to call their city council, a scheme cooked up by both Adams and Mulgrew and a few other union leaders to bully their way through.
Originally, they thought they had an easy path in the city council to getting their way without scaring the membership. The internal lobbying was not effective, while those of us opposed to the reduction in healthcare were having an impact as our rally last Thursday showed.
So Saturday Mulgrew, seeing a loss coming at his attempt to get the council to change the Admin code in ways that would relieve the city obligation to pay up to a rate agreed to in the 60s, in desperation he tried a scare tactic with the working members, claiming Adams will force working UFT members to pay $1500 a year for healthcare.
What his email accomplished was waking the membership up to the healthcare crisis the UFT is facing and created confusion and uncertaintly and opened the door to other voices. Sometimes we have been screaming into the wind. Already there are signs people are not just listening to the UFT line.
What Mulgrew obfuscated about was trying to give the impression Adams can do this unilaterally when in fact Mulgrew must agree to any changes. Again Jame exposes the Mulgrew lie:
James includes links to the MLC agreement with the city that requires both sides to agree and the video above of the increasingly famous Mulgrew critic Marianne Pizzitola.
I was on a zoom with people from MORE last night where Marianne filled in these younger working teachers on the real deal. There will be a town hall on Sunday Nov. 14 at 7PM to spread the word with Marianne answering questions.
Retiree Advocate is also working on a town hall with Marianne this Sunday at 7PM aimed at retirees.
There are so many great bloggers out there exposing the UFT/Unity Caucus/Mulgrew Shakespearean dramedy. Rather than repeat or echo these blogs here are some links.
Mulgrew's savings are our costs
Everytime Mulgrew says "savings" think "out of your pocket"
Quiz: Health care cuts? or Health care savings? : You are experiencing pain, and think about going to the emergency
room, but think about the cost (copay jumped several years ago from $50
to $150) and decide that it’s probably not serious, and take tylenol
instead. Cost or Savings? You are getting less health care than you would have. The cost scared you away. That is a cut, right? Less care? But you might have said that’s a savings: if you are Mulgrew,
Nespoli, Adams, or an Insurance Executive. That’s an emergency room
visit that you might have had to pay for, and now you didn’t. High fives
for jacking up copays! (I was in this situation, but I went to the ER. That triple-digit copay was a cost to me, a savings to Mulgrew.)
Jonathan also points out that more "savings" come out of the need for
Approval for a procedure that should not need approval
Because of a family history of cancer, you need a special diagnostic
procedure every year. But this year a guy who works for an insurance
company calls to say that your procedure has been approved. Cost or
Savings? If you are a regular person, neither. You need the test, you will get it.
But if you are Michael, Harry, Eric or a stockholder in Emblem or
Aetna or Alliance of whatever monster insurance company is involved,
that’s a savings.
When Jonathan blogs, UFT leadership listens - and looks to counter.
Arthur Goldstein, the dean of ed bloggers, comes back with another powerful hit on the UFT leadership: UFT Leadership's Contract Plan
Can you even believe we're battling to change a law so NYC can charge
premiums? If Mulgrew and Adams succeed in making retired couples pay 5K
a year for the health care they were promised for free their entire
careers, who's to say it will stop there? If Adams doesn't get to charge
in-service members $1500 a year for GHI now, who can say he won't
charge them 2500 next year? After all, in service members might be able
to afford it better than retired members. Can't you imagine Adams making
that argument? Can you imagine us supporting it? This,
of course, is all administered by the MLC. We're the largest union in
the city, and the largest voice in the MLC. Meanwhile, the DOE sees us
actively campaigning for worse conditions.
Arthur connects the Mulgrew/Adams partnership on health care to the upcoming contract. Why will we get a contract when Adams can just make outrageous demands and stall/Bloomberg us for years?
More "savings" - for the city - will be coming with further and higher co-pays and for those with chronic illness - a massive healthcare hit.
Oh, and if you are still working and looking at being in Medicare when you turn 65 - the Mulgrew plan will help kill Medicare as a public option - they brag about draining $600 million out of Medicare and into the hands of the private insurers.
What is the way out? There may be no way out especially with Mulgrew in charge. Call me a dreamer but if we had a medicare for all even at the NYS level, that would be a way out. But given the real probability (even I'm sick of Democrats) Hochul will lose, look for bad times ahead.
We deserve better from our leadership. ...There is no victory in that email. It's the job of leadership to better our lot, not march us off a cliff. MLC and UFT leadership need to work toward a better solution, or stand down for someone who will..... Arthur Goldstein, NYC Educator
These are pretty bold words from Arthur (I post his entire brilliant blog post below), who supported the leadership and ran on the Unity slate in the election last May. Not a good sign for Mulgrew. I also got a call from an active Unity Caucus member who was not happy either. Also not a good sign for Mulgrew as Unity frays a bit at the edges. Some insiders also not happy with the increasing ineptitude.
Sunday, October 30, 2022 - Erev Halloween
The municipal union healthcare issue blew up Saturday evening as news of Mulgrew's outrageous threats (see below) of an either or: working UFT members will pay a $1500 yearly healthcare premium or retirees will be forced into Medicare advantage like it or not with no opt out choice. A few choice comments:
What a scam this is - the unions and the mayor have come up with this
piece of blackmail to get everyone on board to pass the bill before the
city council. The UFT has no limit to their perfidy. ... UFT Retiree - Brooklyn
The
nuclear option is invoked! It's retirees versus in-service employees!
Tell the City Council to pass the amendment! Let us screw you over so we
can all be protected from Mulgrew's criminally negligent incompetence:
The shitty deal he agreed to in 2018! It's a dystopian nightmare.... UFT Retiree
Interpret "must" as there can be no changes UNLESS they agree --
It is understood and agreed that the parties will continue to
bargain over and determine by mutual agreement the terms and conditions
of employee health benefits.
"Determine by mutual agreement" is strong language that prohibits the City from unilaterally changing anything. It
looks like Mulgrew's sole motive in changing the Administrative Code is
to save the City money on our backs with givebacks on healthcare. Any change would also do away with our contractual right in Article 3G1 to a choice of premium free healthcare plans..... ICEUFT Blog, MULGREW'S LATEST EMAIL ASKS IF WE WANT HEALTHCARE GIVEBACKS FOR RETIREES OR ACTIVE MEMBERS
Unfortunately MLC and the city are partners so expect MLC to agree to something no matter what Mulgrew is saying about resisting. UFT members have no representation at the MLC while Mayor Adams has the key unions on his side. He is putting his eggs inside changing the admin code which would allow the city to offer retirees the opting of spending $5k a year extra per couple to keep what we have.
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.
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:
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.
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.
