Roller coasters and senior citizens are rarely a good match. But a hair-raising ride seems to have ended well for some 250,000 retired New York City municipal workers. After New York’s highest court ruled against retirees — saying that the promise made to them for more than 50 years that they would be entitled to traditional Medicare and a city-paid supplemental plan — was not explicitly written into any contract or city document, Mayor Adams announced he would not be forcing retirees into a Medicare Advantage plan.
This is welcome news, for now, and retirees’ anxiety should be allayed, at least temporarily. Because the next mayor could renege on that promise and again try to force seniors into Medicare Advantage. In addition to Adams’ pledge, Andrew Cuomo, Curtis Sliwa, and Jim Walden have promised to protect retirees; but Zohran Mamdani has not.
It is important to remember how we got here. And perhaps that history will be useful to Mamdani and get him to stand with the retirees.
Four years ago today, July 14, 2021, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he was going to make retirees pay for the supplemental insurance policy that the city had funded for nearly half a century. Why? Because he used the Health Stabilization fund as a piggy bank, took a billion dollars and didn’t pay it back.
De Blasio figured he could get half of it by taking retiree benefits. Instead of allowing senior citizens and disabled first-responders choose the plan that was right for them — and the vast majority have chosen traditional Medicare — de Blasio forced every one of them into an inferior Medicare Advantage plan run by a for-profit insurance company. He said it would “save” the city more than $500 million a year, but in truth, the city wasn’t going to save a dime: that money was going back into the fund he took it from with no oversight.
A coalition of retirees from every walk of life — former firefighters, police officers, teachers, lawyers — banded together and took on City Hall.
They took a job working for the city and were repeatedly told by city officials, “You will not get rich, but when you retire, you will have a pension and high-quality, city-funded health care in the form of Medicare and supplemental insurance.” These promised benefits are deferred compensation for working — and possibly risking your life for — the city.
Now that the city was trying to take them away. After winning seven legal battles to keep what they earned, the highest court in the state decided against us. We lost an important battle. Generation after generation of city workers heard the promise. It was repeated in recruiting sessions, one-on-one meetings with HR people, and in the annual Summary Program Description (SPD) booklets handed out to every city worker. The evidence of this promise — including unrebutted testimony from hundreds of former city officials and retirees — was overwhelming.
But according to the Court of Appeals, that wasn’t enough. Those didn’t count as explicit promises that could bind the city. The court concluded the precise wording of the promise did not satisfy the technical requirements of a doctrine known as promissory estoppel. All that means is the city did not have to keep its word.
This disappointing legal conclusion does not change the fundamental facts found by the lower courts: (1) city officials recruited and retained retirees by telling us that we would be provided traditional Medicare plus a Medicare supplemental plan; (2) retirees have detrimentally relied on that promise; and (3) denying retirees this insurance now would imperil our lives, as many of our doctors will not accept Medicare Advantage.
The Court of Appeals decision is important for two reasons. First, city and union leaders will have to take greater care in spelling out benefits for future retirees. Whether in bargaining agreements or SPDs, people will remember that words — and their absence — have consequences. And second, while Adams’ decision allows us to breathe a sigh of relief, retiree health benefits should not be subject to politics or expediency; they need to be codified in law.
Now is time for the City Council to step up. It needs to codify retirees’ right to traditional Medicare plus supplemental insurance. There is a bill pending — Intro 1096 sponsored by Councilmember Chris Marte — that would protect retirees. But Speaker Adrienne Adams has refused to allow it to come to the floor for a vote.
Mayor Adams and Speaker Adams can show their leadership by getting councilmembers to take a stand supporting seniors and disabled first responders: Enact 1096 and help retirees get off this dangerous roller coaster.
Pizzitola is president of the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees.
