The NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees has officially won its lawsuit against the City, preventing Adams, Mulgrew, and the MLC from forcing medicare-eligible retirees off of GHI Seniorcare and onto a for-profit Medicare Advantage plan (MAP) run by Aetna. The decision is brief, essentially just referencing that the TRO/Injunction that I reported on earlier this summer still stands based on the language in that earlier filing. To quote Lyle Frank: ” ORDERED that the Respondents are permanently enjoined from requiring any City retirees, and their dependents from being removed from their current health insurance plan(s), and from being required to either enroll in an Aetna Medicare Advantage Plan or seek their own health coverage.”
Congratulations, retirees. While the City of course will appeal, this news is good and bodes well for the future of retired members – as well as future retired members. In the mean time, in-service members, be vigilant and look out for the City/MLC, who may now look for new ways to push the ‘savings,’ which they were trying to make on the backs of retirees, onto us in the form of increased copays, reduced coverage, new premiums, or new insurance plans altogether. If that happens, in-service members must fight, as the retirees did, and make sure that doesn’t happen.
New Action - UFT 