Fast-Tracked Ryder’s Law Leaves NYC Retirees, EMS in the Dust
New York City municipal retirees took to the steps of City Hall earlier this month to urge Mayor Eric Adams to back passage of Intro. 1096—legislation protecting the Medicare and MediGap benefits retirees earned on the job. Photo/Joe Maniscalco
By Joe Maniscalco
Still struggling to get out of single digits in the latest polls, incumbent Mayor Eric Adams this week not only put the health and welfare of Central Park horses before the health and welfare of New York City municipal retirees—he did everything he could to fast-track the effort.
“It’s politics. That’s all it is,” former District Council 37 Retirees Association officer Neal Frumkin told Work-Bites this week. “He’s choosing to do something he could have done when he first got elected—there’s no doubt about why he’s doing it now. He’s desperate to get back in the polls and looking for supporters.”
The latest Marist poll released on Tuesday places Mayor Adams at the bottom of the pack in the November race for New York City Mayor with just 9% saying they’d vote for him—way behind Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani—45%, disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo—24%, and Guarding Angels founder Curtis Sliwa—17%.
Hizzoner had a busy day on Wednesday, though, personally urging Council Members to pass legislation phasing out New York City’s entire horse-drawn carriage industry—issuing an executive order beefing up oversight and enforcement until the ban is enacted—and sending a “letter of necessity” to the City Council giving it the power to immediately expedite passage of Ryder’s Law—the bill banning horse-drawn carriages by June of next year.
“While many talk about change, our administration has always been about real, meaningful action—and this issue is no different,” the mayor said in a statement released on Sept. 17. “That’s why today, I’m calling on the City Council to do what they should have done long ago: end the horse carriage industry in New York City and help keep all New Yorkers — including our animals — safe.”
Now contrast that, however, with the Adams administration’s continued inaction on Intro. 1096—the long languishing City Council bill crafted to prevent New York City municipal retirees from being stripped of their Traditional Medicare and MediGap benefits and herded into a profit-driven Medicare Advantage health insurance plan none of those retirees wants.
“It’s wonderful what the Mayor is doing—but he’s putting the horse before the retiree,” retired EMS worker and New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees President Marianne Pizzitola told Work-Bites on Friday. "Maybe he should consider getting his priorities in order and keeping the retirees in their Traditional Medicare plan.”
Intro. 1096 sponsor Chris Marte [D-1st District] steadfastly insists that codifying his bill into law is imperative because at any moment, “this mayor or a future mayor can reverse positions and try again to put retirees on Medicare Advantage or an equally dangerous plan.”
Mayor Adams suddenly and abruptly announced this past June that he was abandoning the Medicare Advantage push, citing costs—at least for now. At the same time, however, he celebrated a favorable New York State Court of Appeals ruling on June 18 finding retirees failed to show the City of New York ever really promised them the Traditional Medicare and MediGap benefits package they earned on the job.
“I am grateful to the Court of Appeals 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,” Mayor Adams said. “This is an important precedent that will allow the city to modify plans in response to evolving conditions.”
New York City municipal retirees fighting back against the Medicare Advantage push have been calling on both Mayor Adams and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams [D-28th District] to fast-track passage of Intro. 1096 ever since it was first introduced last October—and even prior to that.
But the Speaker and Hizzoner have instead been playing ping pong with the retiree bill—each claiming it is the other’s responsibility to act.
The Speaker has consistently opposed advancing Intro. 1096 and because of the power that she wields in the City Council—has successfully kept it confined to Council Member Carmen De La Rosa’s Civil Service and Labor Committee.
At the time of this writing, Intro. 1096 still has fewer than 20 cosponsors.
“Continuing to subject [New York City municipal retirees] to predatory copays—and we will need the [Central Park] horses to cart us off to the cemetery or the homeless shelter,” Pizzitola continued. “We’ve watched the city protect ferrets, guinea pigs, and now horses. We applaud these worthy causes, now what about us? Fast-tracking an animal protection bill before a human protection bill in the form of Intro 1096 shows that Eric Adams does not have his priorities in order.”
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission—the independent congressional agency charged with advising the U.S. Congress on issues impacting Medicare—estimates that Medicare Advantage will cost taxpayers $84 billion more covering enrollees in 2025 than they would have spent covering those same enrollees if they were in Traditional Medicare.
In reality, fast-tracking Ryder’s law actually puts the health and welfare of horses ahead of the health and safety of all New Yorkers.
That’s because whether or not Mayor Adams is re-elected in November—he is wrapping up his present term in office having failed to fulfill his campaign pledge to finally bring pay parity to FDNY EMS workers.
Despite declarations to end the pay disparity between EMS and other uniformed services prior to being elected mayor—FDNY EMS workers today continue to struggle just to get by. The base salary for an EMT after more than five years on the job remains stagnant at $59,534 a year, and response times across the city have reached record highs.
Intro. 0521—the bill seeking to establish a Department of Emergency Medical Services headed by its own commissioner—could help lift EMS out of its second-class status, but it only has 20 cosponsors in the New York City Council.
And the mayor isn’t calling for that bill to be fast-tracked either.
A spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office reached for comment on this story told Work-Bites that the mayor is “committed to public safety in all its forms.”
“That’s why he signed a historic executive order to phase out the horse carriage industry, which increasingly puts pedestrians, drivers, and horses at risk,” the spokesperson said in an email. “Our EMS workers are also critical to keeping New Yorkers safe. We value their service and remain in negotiations to reach a fair agreement with them, as we’ve done with 98.5% of the city’s workforce.”
The Mayor’s Office, however, declined to comment directly on the fate of New York City municipal retirees and Intro. 1096.
Transport Workers Union [TWU] International President John Samuelsen, meanwhile, published a series of posts on X this week following the mayor’s call to fast-track Ryder’s Law in which he called Eric Adams a “hypocritical lying sellout” and chided him for wearing a Teamsters jacket in a video announcing the horse-drawn carriage ban.
"@ericadamsfornyc is a damn disgrace for wearing a @Teamsters jacket to announce his betrayal and attack on 170 @TWULocal100 blue collar carriage drivers in favor of Manhattan gazillionaires,” Samuelsen said. “If only @TeamsterSOB were there to rip the jacket off this hypocritical lying sellout.”
The City of New York banned the retail sale of guinea pigs in 2023.