Thursday, July 29, 2021

UFT UPDATE ON MEDICARE PRIVATIZATION (MULGREWCARE)

This is from the UFT. They never mention in their literature that moving 300,000 NYC retirees into a privatized medical plan sets the cause of getting a universal healthcare plan for everyone back considerably. Certain goods should be public goods. Healthcare should be one of them. We all have a right to quality healthcare. The US is the only wealthy nation that does not guarantee this right. Universal Medicare for All is what we should be striving for. In addition, how is the UFT going to argue against privatizing public education when they endorse privatizing retiree healthcare? 

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yup. Privatize schools now to decrease costs! You get to keep your teachers. Any school that accepts students will accept you. What’s wrong with that UFT? Good for healthcare. Good for education. Privatize it all now! So done with all things UFT. I don’t need a union if I have to pay for my own supplemental.. No way I’m taking an Advantage plan. No way in hell. I’ve seen the the shitty plan in action. I’m not fooled. Thanks for info James.

Bronx ATR said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bronx ATR said...

-8:26, I think we are stuck with the advantage plan even if we drop out of the Uft. Otherwise, many retirees will be dropping out. But then again, that’s something the UFT really does want. I guess we’ll find out more when we individually hit 65.

waitingforsupport said...

What's the premium difference?

Anonymous said...

My dad pays around 275 for United Health care zero copays. And another 95 for prescription coverage and pays about 1200-1500 per year in copays and donut hole. One of his meds is pricey has retail price of $500 month so he hits donut hole. Totals about 500 month

Anonymous said...

Bronx ATR I’ve got several years b4 Medicare….. we’ll know soon just how bad this plan is. I don’t think retirees 65+ are going to be quiet if their coverage sucks.

waitingforsupport said...

Thanks @1:23pm...
And what is donut hole?

Anonymous said...

This is old news. I heard about this on Facebook's Pissed Off and Fed Up Retired Teachers. Calling that phone number is a waste of time; they are useless. Just like our union, they don't care and we get more misleading info. The opt-out period to keep your traditional Medicare A & B and GHI CBP Senior Care is 9/1-10/15. OLR is sending out a mailing in mid-August. No on knows how much the additional premiums will be to keep your current insurance.

Mulgrew and De Blasio brokered a deal back in 2014 to use the NYC Stabilization Fund (money appropriated for our health insurance) to pay for the RETRO pay. In 2018 behind closed doors, they decided to take us off Medicare. The city gets subsidies from the federal government to pay for managing privatized Medicare. You can hear this version of how we got to this point on You Tube- Sergeants Benevolent Association Meeting on 6/23/21. The other union members now hate us/our union for stabbing them in the back. Of course, after the city/union stole our money for health insurance, they claimed VICTORY. Mulgrew at the April meeting when introducing the NYC Medicare Advantage Plan to teachers said he was saving the city 600 million $ and he saved us our health benefits omitting to mention how he sold us out.

Anonymous said...

Donut hole is akin to maxing out your prescription coverage. It’s a convoluted system that I can’t explain well. There are 3 categories. The middle category is the donut hole. In the hole, my dad’s copay for his pricey non generic prescription triples to 150 per month. I wish I could explain it better. But I can’t. I think the category after that lowers the price again but dad has never gone beyond the donut hole. Like I said…convoluted.

waitingforsupport said...

@9:27am

Thank you so much. Stay safe to you and the family

ATR 25/55 said...

"We all have a right to quality healthcare. The US is the only wealthy nation that does not guarantee this right."

So we don't have right to a service performed by others. We also don't have a healthcare system that rations many procedures to the elderly and infirmed. Be careful what you wish for. The older you are in Europe and Canada, the longer you have to wait for things like knee replacements. And you will be denied certain surgeries if you're 'too old.' And yes, I know this for a fact.

James Eterno said...

And they live longer.

"The USA now has the lowest life expectancy levels among high income developed countries, and Americans fare poorly across a broad set of ages, health conditions, and causes of death compared with their counterparts in these countries," the authors wrote.

Canada: 82
UK: 81.3
USA:78.6

https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-life-expectancy-compare-countries/#item-le_life-expectancy-at-birth-in-years-2017_dec-2019-update