Judge Lyle Frank has granted Medicare eligible City retirees an injunction to halt the GHI Senior Care copays that the City imposed in 2021 and the unions agreed to. This is another defeat for Michael Mulgrew. The new copays violate Administrative Code 12-126 which says the City has to pay the full cost of healthcare for City retirees, active employees and our dependents.
Don't change 12-126, City Council!
We understand the City has already appealed but their record against the retiree's lawyers is not good. The legal outlook is positive the way I read the decision based on 12-126.
That leads to two important questions:
1-If copays are not legal for Medicare eligible retirees, how are they legal for non Medicare eligible retirees and active City employees?
2-Aren't all of us covered by 12-126? My non lawyer guess is we have accepted the copays for so long the City will say they are now the staus quo. That was their argument with the retirees but the judge rejected it. The rest of us have accepted the copays for years and years. The moral is to never give the City an inch for a second.
As for City Medicare eligible retirees only, this is from Marianne on Facebook:
Marianne is advising you to bring a copy of the injunction with you to the doctor if asked for a copay.
I bet the reason that Mulgoon canceled yesterday's DA meeting is that he knew he was gonna get his ass kicked at the MLC hearing and he also probably knew that the result of the retiree co pay injunction was gonna drop around the same time. It's awesome to see his bullshit finally coming back to bite him in the ass!
ReplyDeleteIn service members should pay co-pays?
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