A state Supreme Court judge issued a decision Friday “permanently” blocking the contentious plan to switch retired city government employees over to a Medicare Advantage plan, building off of an injunction in July that temporarily prevented the plan from taking effect.
“This does feel pretty amazing. It’s a vindication,” said Marianne Pizzitola, president of the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees. “But it’s like we can almost read the tea leaves every time we win. [The city] does something to either go around the decision or they challenge the judge’s decision or both.”
The court’s decision follows the reasoning of the temporary injunction it issued last month, with Supreme Court Justice Lyle E. Frank citing a section of the city’s administrative code that says it “will pay the entire cost of health insurance coverage” for workers, retirees and their dependents.
For the retirees, the core issue is that the Aetna plan could limit access to their current health care providers by subjecting certain claims to prior authorizations or denying coverage.
In his July decision, Judge Frank found that the switch could result in “irreparable harm” to vulnerable retirees. He noted an acknowledgement by the Aetna attorney that “there would very likely be situations where medical care deemed to be needed by a doctor for a retiree could be turned down, and certain medical facilities would be unavailable to retirees.”
Before the end of the day Friday, Adams administration, which said it was extremely disappointed with the ruling, had filed an appeal. “This Medicare Advantage plan, which was negotiated closely with and supported by the Municipal Labor Committee, would improve upon retirees’ current plans, including offering a lower deductible, a cap on out-of-pocket expenses, and new benefits, like transportation, fitness programs, and wellness incentives. In addition, it would save $600 million annually, especially critical at a time when we are already facing significant fiscal and economic challenges,” said a City Hall spokesperson.
Pizzitola and the retiree organization fighting the switch have disputed the city’s savings figure. They have also said that they don’t see the cap as an improvement because once retirees meet their deductible with Senior Care they don’t have out-of-pocket expenses.
Pizzitola is hoping that the judge’s decision will be enough to get more members of the Council to support City Council bill introduced by Councilman Charles Barron that would amend the city’s administrative code to allow retirees to opt out of the new plan.
The ruling was enough to bring at least one more councilmember on board: Justin Brannan, Chair of the City Council’s Finance Committee, put out a statement saying that he agreed with the judge that revoking benefits from retirees to save the city money is wrong.
Several other councilmembers had previously said that they were withholding support while the issue played out in court.
“Okay, so we won there. Oh, well guess now what? The mayor appealed it. So does that mean you’re gonna string me along even more?” said PIzzitola.
The retirees won’t know the timeline of the appellate case until Judge Frank schedules it.
