“Decades ago, when New York City first asked its municipal retirees to switch to Medicare to help save on medical insurance costs, it also made a promise that retirees would be fully reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses they incurred. That promise was finally enshrined into law by this City Council in Local Law 39 of 2001, passed with the enthusiastic support of DC 37 and the United Federation of Teachers.
It is imperative that New York City preserve this longstanding commitment to keeping Medicare free – not just for the more than 250,000 municipal retirees who currently rely on it, but for the hundreds of thousands of current municipal employees who, one day, will also be retired, seniors, on fixed incomes and struggling to keep up with the rapidly growing cost of living. Any change to the Administrative Code that would allow the city to charge our current and future retirees would undo this longstanding, equitable arrangement, place a tremendous financial burden on both current and future retirees, and set a terrible precedent for the city to impose more costs on its workers.
We once again urge the Municipal Labor Committee and administration to come back to the negotiating table to pursue a compromise and to heed the advice e experts on ways to create real, long-term healthcare savings. We fully appreciate the Mayor, as a longtime municipal employee himself, has the best interests of both city employees and taxpayers in mind, and has been working hard to reverse some of the fiscally irresponsible practices that have put the city in this position in the first place. As such, we are ready and willing to work with all parties to find savings in the city budget and to help meet these difficult challenges ahead.”
