NYC Mayor Eric Adams Abandons Medicare Advantage Push!
Mayor Eric Adams and NYCOPSR President Marianne Pizzitola “land the plane.”
By Joe Maniscalco
New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced today that his administration is abandoning the Medicare Advantage push—at least for now.
“We’re announcing that we're not moving forward with the Medicare Advantage plan, specifically because the mayor, over many months, has heard from retirees that they're worried about whether it'll be affordable for them,” Spokesperson Liz Garcia told Work-Bites on Friday.
The stunning announcement comes just 48 hours after the New York State Court of Appeals delivered the mayor a victory in the so-called “nuclear option” case, helping to clear the way for the Adams administration to force municipal retirees into a profit-driven Medicare Advantage plan run by Aetna.
“We’re not moving forward with [Medicare Advantage] at this time, however, we are still obviously very glad that the court made this decision because it's essentially saying that we still have the legal right to change or alter healthcare coverage as the city,” Garcia further explained. “They basically acknowledged we need to have flexibility to adapt our policies based on how things are changing, [and] market conditions.”
The mayor also referenced the Court of Appeals June 18 decision in his official statement today announcing that he is finally putting the brakes on the Medicare Advantage push—saying that he is grateful to the court for “recognizing, earlier this week, that the city has a legal right to offer alternative health care coverage plans to retirees and for acknowledging that we must have flexibility to adapt our policies based on changing times. This is an important precedent that will allow the city to modify plans in response to evolving conditions.”
“At the same time,” Mayor Adams continued, “we have heard concerns from retirees about these potential changes at numerous older adult town halls and public events, and our administration remains focused on ensuring that New York City remains an affordable place to live. Thankfully, we have found other ways to address health care costs while providing quality health care coverage for our city’s workers, and we have decided not to move forward with the Medicare Advantage plan at this time.”
The mayor also said that his administration has “informed union leadership that we are pursuing other avenues for improving health care for city workers that will provide even better outcomes, and we look forward to continuing to work with our partners on the best path forward.”
When asked if retirees themselves will finally be included in talks about what happens next, Garcia told Work-Bites, “Yeah, I think we're gonna have those ongoing conversations with union leadership and other people.”
Cost, of course, was just one aspect of the pushback against the Adams administration’s campaign to force 250,000 municipal retirees and their families into a profit-driven Medicare Advantage plan. What really kept retirees up at night were the prior authorizations, delays, and outright denials of necessary care, along with dwindling pools of participating doctors and hospitals that are the hallmarks of all profit-driven Medicare Advantage plans.
“I think it's fair to say that being denied services is also something that we've contemplated in regards to this,” Garcia also told Work-Bites. “The mayor always kind of emphasizes with people, ‘My health care is your health care—I wouldn't want to be denied those services either.’ But I would say the overarching rationale for the decision was because of affordability.”
New York City Organizaiton of Public Service Retirees President Marianne Pizzitola reacted to today’s announcement with a mix of shock and joy.
"The mayor always said he would ‘land this plane,’ and we are glad he has,” she told Work-Bites. “We knew he would keep his promise. We are glad."