DC37 Local 1930 retiree Camille Croce Dee accepts a special MEA honor on behalf of NYCOPSR President Marianne Pizzitola.
By Joe Maniscalco
This past Thursday, members of the New York City Managerial Employees Association [MEA] took time out from their steadfast advocacy on behalf of public service workers to honor fellow advocate Marianne Pizzitola, head of the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees [NYCOPSR], and New York City Council Member Crystal Hudson [D-35th District].
Both of the honorees were hailed for standing up for Traditional Medicare benefits and safeguarding New York City municipal retirees from the ongoing Medicare Advantage threat.
NYCOPSR President Marianne Pizzitola on the steps of City Hall last year.
The assault on New York City retiree healthcare was first launched back in 2021 with a scheme to strip retired civil servants of the Traditional Medicare benefits they were promised on the job, and push them into a profit-driven Medicare Advantage plan.
Medicare Advantage purveyors routinely deny millions of prior authorizations, either fully or partially, each year resulting often catastrophic delays in vital care.
New York City retirees pushed back even harder, however, with Pizzitola and NYCOPSR spearheading the campaign to halt the Medicare Advantage rollout and enact new legislation to protect municipal retirees from further assault.
Intro. 1008, legislation protecting the Traditional Medicare benefits municipal retirees were promised on the job, now has 23 co-sponors—including Council Member Hudson. That tally represents the highest-ever level of support thus far seen in the New York City Council.
Former Mayor Eric Adams announced he was abandoning the Medicare Advantage push before being voted out of office last year, but more than half of all retirees in the United States are now enrolled in a privatized Medicare Advantage plan—and the drive to expand hasn’t quit.
New York City Council Crystal Hudson is one of 23 legislators now supporting passage of Intro. 1008, new legislation protecting retiree healthcare from diminishment.
Current Mayor Zohran Mamdani told Work-Bites prior to succeeding Adams that he supports the “spirit” of legislation protecting retiree healthcare from privatization and the Medicare Advantage push, but that it wouldn’t be needed if he was elected.
The heads of the largest public sector unions in the City all backed the Medicare Advantage push, and have never actually conceded it would result in inferior care for retirees.
Retiree advocates further warn that New York City’s Retiree Health Benefit Trust—originally meant to be used for the “exclusive purpose of funding the health and welfare benefits of retired city employees and their dependents,” will actually end up being used as slush fund to balance the City’s books if Question 5 of the 2026 Ballot Proposals is passed.
Work-Bites, of course, has been reporting on the Medicare Advantage push and the ongoing assault on retiree healthcare from the beginning. Oct. 22’s MEA awards ceremony at Junior’s Restaurant on Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn also included a special shoutout to Work-Bites for our coverage.
Many thanks to all for the support—and we hope more MEA members will become Work-Bites Builders today! We are a 501c3 nonprofit news outlet and all donations are tax deductible!