(Click here to read the latest on what is happening to our healthcare)
NYC OFFICE OF LABOR RELATIONS (OLR) TO HOLD HEARING ON CONTRACT WITH AETNA MEDICARE ADVANTAGE, 10 AM, TUESDAY, MARCH 21. The hearing will be by conference call.
Click HERE for full details and to find out how to participate. (In order to access the Public Hearing and testify, CALL-IN #: 1-646-992-2010, ACCESS CODE: 2347 828 0390, no later than 9:55 AM on March 21, 2023.)
Links to a “DRAFT” of the full contract are available on the OLR website at the bottom of the ‘public hearings page.“
HERE ARE SOME TALKING POINTS that we have prepared.
If the hearing is anything like the OLR hearing on November 10, 2021 (see below) on the now defunct Alliance Medicare Advantage contract, it will be bedlam. Nonetheless, it is important that present and future retirees call in to express their rage about what is happening — and that OLR and the Mayor hear the angry voices of retired and present-day NYC public sector workers.
Here is an account that appeared on the PSC website capturing the bedlam of the 11/10/21 OLR contract hearing.
“The NYC Office of Labor Relations (OLR) hosted a hearing on the contract before submitting it to the NYC Comptroller. The hearing was absolute bedlam, to the point where speakers could not register to testify and could only be heard by out-shouting others trying to talk. More than 250 attended, but only a handful got to testify. The hearing was organized as a telephone conference call where anyone could press *6 to unmute, which meant that multiple attendees tried to talk at the same time. An account in the online city journal, New York Focus, captured the absurdity of what the Office of Labor Relations (OLR) publicized as a hearing. OLR did not create even a bare bones structure for registering, for testifying and for conducting the hearing in an orderly manner. Even so, many retirees tried to testify; not one supported the Medicare Advantage plan. Click here to read the NY Focus piece. James Davis, President of the PSC, submitted testimony based on a close reading of the document which raised serious questions about lack of accountability in the contract for the vendor. He urged “elected officials of the City to reject the contract because it is significantly flawed.” Click here to read his testimony.”
(Click here to read the latest on what is happening to our healthcare)
Published: March 17, 2023 | Last Modified: May 25, 2023
