Updates

MARCH 16 LETTER FROM JAMES DAVIS ON MOVING RETIREES TO MEDICARE ADVANTAGE AND ELIMINATING PREMIUM-FREE NYC SENIOR CARE — and why the PSC continues to push back on these issues.  Click HERE to read the letter.

NYC OFFICE OF LABOR RELATIONS TO HOLD HEARING ON CONTRACT WITH AETNA MEDICARE ADVANTAGE, 10  AM, TUESDAY, MARCH 21.  The hearing will be by conference call.  Click HERE for details and to find out how to participate.

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.”

MARCH 9, 2023 — PSC VOTED “NO” ON THE CONTRACT FOR THE NEW MEDICARE ADVANTAGE PLAN:  The Municipal Labor Committee voted on Thursday, March 9 to approve a contract with Aetna for a Medicare Advantage plan and to remove premium-free NYC Senior Care as an option for retirees.  The PSC voted “NO”  together with 25 other unions.  Click here to fnd out why.

TAKE ACTION AGAINST THE SWITCH TO MEDICARE ADVANTAGE AND TO PRESERVE PREMIUM-FREE NYC SENIOR CARE.  WRITE/CALL NYC COUNCIL MEMBERS URGING THEM TO SIGN-ON TO THE LETTER TO THE MAYOR.  The PSC Retiree Chapter is mobilizing its members to enlist their NYC Council Members to sign the letter to Mayor Adams.  In-service members (future retirees) should join this action.  Click here to read more.

VIDEOS OF SEPTEMBER 2022 – MARCH 2023  RETIREE CHAPTER UPDATES ON HEALTHCARE: There were updates in the second part of chapter meetings on 9/12/22, 10/3/22, 11/7/22, 12/5/22, 1/23/23, 2/6/23 and 3/6/23.

• Here is a link to a video of the 9/12  chapter meeting.  The discussion of reitiree healthcare begins at the one hour six minute mark of the video.
• HERE is a link to a video of the 10/3 chapter meeting.  The second part of the meeting, on retiree healthcare, begins at the one hour fifteen minute mark of the video.
• HERE is a link to a video of the 11/7 chapter meeting.  The second part of the meeting, on retiree healthcare, begins at the one hour twenty-nine minute mark of the video.
• HERE is a link to a video of the 12/5 chapter meeting with retiree healthcare beginning at the one hour nine minute mark.
• HERE is a link to a video of  the 1/23/23 special Retiree Chapter meeting on retiree healthcare.
• HERE is a link to a video of  the 2/6/23 Retiree Chapter meeting with retiree healthcare beginning at the one hour fifty-seven minute mark.
• HERE is a link to a video of  the 3/6/23 Retiree Chapter meeting with retiree healthcare beginning at the one hour seventeen minute mark.

JANUARY 31, 2023: “With deadline passed, Medicare amendment appears doomed.  But PSC union’s ‘third way’ proposal has some traction.”  This is a headline from The Chief.  Click here to read the story.

JANUARY 2023: PSC CITY COUNCIL TESTIMONY.  The City Council Committee on Civil Service and Labor held a hearing on January 9th on a proposed NYC Administrative Code change that would clear the path for the City to implement a Medicare Advantage plan and begin charging retirees a premium to opt out.  PSC leadership and scores of PSC members testified in opposition to the change.  Read their testimony HERE.

The entire 1/9/23 City Council hearing is available HERE with testimony by James Davis and a PSC panel beginning at the 5:48:15 timestamp.  The committee never voted to send the proposed amendment to the full City Council.  At t his point, the proposed amendment appears to be a non-starter.

JANUARY 23, 2023: LATEST ON PROPOSED CHANGES TO RETIREE HEALTHCARE.  Click here for a video of  the 1/23/23 special Retiree Chapter meeting on the latest developments on the continuing saga of the push to move retiree healthcare insurance fro traditional Medicare to Medicare Avantage.

JANUARY 11, 2023: JUDGE ISSUES INJUNCTION BARRING CITY FROM CHARGING $15 CO-PAYS FOR NYC SENIOR CARE.  In a suit brought by the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees, Judge Lyle Frank, on Wednesday, January 11, issued a preliminary injunction stopping the Adams adminisration from charging $15 co-pays for Senior Care.  Click HERE for more details in this NY Daily News story.

DECEMBER 2022:  PSC PROPOSES AN ALTERNATIVE PATH FOR NYC HEALTH BENEFITS PROGRAM IN RESPONSE TO ARBITRATOR’S DECISION AND PROPOSED NYC COUNCIL HEARINGS ON CHANGING THE CITY’S ADMINISTRATIVE CODE.  Click HERE to read the PSC’s analysis and proposal.

Share the PSC proposal with your City Council representative and urge Council members to vote “NO” on changing the adminisrative code.

DECEMBER 15, 2022:  ARBITRATOR CALLS FOR NEGOTIATIONS ON MEDICARE ADVANTAGE TO BE COMPLETED BY JANUARY 9 AND IMPLEMENTED BY JULY 1.  On December 15, an arbitrator issued a decision ordering the City to complete negotiations with Aetna Insurance on a Medicare Advantage plan by January 9th  and calling on the Municipal Labor Committee to vote on the plan immediately thereafter, with July 1 target for the MA plan to go into effect as possibly the only healthcare option for municipal reiirees.  Here is an article (NY Focus/The City) on the decision and here is the arbitrator’s ruling.

The Davis Letter.  On Thursday, December 22, James Davis, President of the PSC sent a letter to members:

• Explaining the implications of the arbitrator’s decision for all PSC membera — retirees and in-service.
• Warning that such a path suggests a “classic anti-labor maneuver to pit in-service members against retirees.”
• Calling for an alternative path to the healthcare dilemna faced by NYC and the MLC.Click here to read his letter.

NOVEMBER 22, 2022:  APPELLATE DIVISION OF NYS SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS JUDGE FRANK’S DECISION.  Appeals court unanimously upholds decision keeping NYC Senior Care premium-free.  A state appeals court on 11/22/22 unanimously upheld the decision of a lower court (Judge Lyle Frank) that prohibits NYC from charging a premium to municipal retirees for NYC Senior Care.  For more detail, click here.  A PDF of the decision can be read here.

SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2022: PSC OPPOSES WEAKENING NYC HEALTH INSURANCE PROTECTIONS.  Proposed changes in NYC administrative code threaten retiree healthcare and, in the longer term, potentially in-service members.  Read James Davis’ 9/9/22 message and 11/7/22 update to PSC members about these proposed changes.

You may also find this primer, written by a Retiree Chapter Executive Committee member, useful in breaking down the legal complexities of the proposed adminstrative code — and its implications for all union members.

SEPTEMBER – DECEMBER 2023:  WHAT YOU CAN DO TO OPPOSE THE CHANGE TO THE ADMINISTRATIVE CODE:  This is what we were asking members to do  in September through December.

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Published: March 3, 2022 | Last Modified: July 25, 2022