RETIREE GROUP SAYS THE CITY MISLED THE JUDGE IN MEDICARE PRIVATIZATION CASE

It looks like the city stooped to misleading a judge on retiree healthcare. Ace NY Post reporter Sue Edelman along with Richard Calder obtained a smoking gun and published it on Saturday.

City lawyers lied to a state judge in a “shameful” bid to cheat them out of health insurance benefits, according to a retired group of firefighters, cops, teachers and other public servants.

The lawyers have argued in court filings and before a Manhattan Supreme Court judge that NYC retirees must accept a new, privately administered plan or pay $191.57 monthly to maintain current coverage.

However, The Post obtained a Feb 16, 2016 letter from Stephen Louis, a top city Law Department attorney, to then-Labor Commissioner Robert Linn which appears to confirm the city is required by law to pay for all retiree health plans up to a price cap.

“They misled the court,” fumed Marianne Pizzitola, who heads the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees, when shown the letter, calling it “shameful.”

Louis wrote that the Administrative Code requires the city to pay for any plan “up to the full cost of the health care package offered” by NYC. 

Assistant Corporation Counsel William Fraenkel told Judge Lyle Frank on Feb. 28 that making every plan premium-free would “run contrary” to the law.

The city lost the case but is appealing. Of course, the city denies that they misled the judge but look at the language of the letter that is published in its entirety in the Post. Here is the key part:

Similarly, the Council committee report explaining local law 120 singled out payment for the "entire cost"  of a "health insurance plan" but did not prescribe the components of any plan.

The important words are "any plan" as I read the letter. It is kind of obvious that it means more than one plan. Look up the definitions of the word "any" if you want to. These two definitions from Webster seem to fit appropriately:

a: unmeasured or unlimited in amount, number, or extent 

any quantity you desire

b: appreciably large or extended

could not endure it any length of time

We can even go to the thesaurus for synonyms:

Synonyms & Antonyms of any

being one of a group

any person who comes in the store today is eligible for the discount

Synonyms for any

each, every

The dictionary pretty much shows that the city is supposed to pay for multiple plans, not just one. That is also what it calls for in the UFT Contract in Article 3G1 which has this title:

Choice of  Health Plans

Then, look at the contractual language:

The Board agrees to arrange for, and make available to each day school teacher, a choice of health and hosptial insurance coverage from among designated plans and the Board agrees to pay the full cost of such coverage.

State law covers public school teacher retirees too.

While there is no guarantee that retirees in the state have the same coverage as active employees, the state Legislature prohibits school districts and BOCES from unilaterally diminishing retiree health insurance coverage unless a similar reduction is negotiated for active employees.

You see why the city wants to diminish active employee health benefits, not only retirees. We have been trying to ring the alarm bell that inferior Mulgrewcare is coming to all of us unless all of us collectively say no.

Michael Mulgrew, the rest of the Unity UFT leadership who just go along, the Municipal Labor Committee, and many of the establishment Democratic and Republican politicians are not our friends on healthcare. The pressure has to come from rank and file city employees that there needs to be a line drawn in the sand on healthcare. We will not accept more cuts to benefits or increased costs to employees or retirees.

Maryann Pizzitola is working on behalf of municipal retirees across many job titles. Go to the website to learn more about the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees.