Copays?
Retired teacher here. NYC. UFT. GHI – not part of this Medicare mess – I’m too young. I know they’ve been sneaking in copays – but never like this before.
Just to be clear. New York City. United Federation of Teachers. GHI is now Emblem, the most popular insurance for teachers, including retired teachers (before Medicare) – with no premium.
So here’s the thing. When I’m asked to pay a copay, I’m getting medical service, which I need. I pay. And I know that I am paying more copays and higher copays, and I might make a point of them being too frequent or too much – still I pay them.
But $340 in 2023? The year’s not half done. Why am I paying so much in copays?
UFT members (in service and retired but not Medicare yet) – are you finding the same? Are you paying more copays? Are they adding up to much more than they used to?
JD2718 
You’re paying so much because as one of the heaviest voting blocks in the MLC, your union president supported it as part of finding savings for the city in negotiations. You know, those mandatory subjects of bargaining he tells you, you can’t participate in? There’s a section of the OLR website called “Labor” – “healthcare savings”. Look at everything he negotiated away- and there you find all your copays. Here is the main link https://www.nyc.gov/site/olr/labor/labor-health-savings.page and the last agreement isn’t even up there. But the unions voting on it, is here after the MLC attorney Alan Klinger brings up the savings at the 1 hour mark. And then they vote on it. https://youtu.be/BfHNpPSlCko
Yes, it’s not just the increased cost of copays, it’s the number of them. Doctor visits that used to cost a flat rate now often require separate copays for services that happen within them. Often, you don’t find out about these copays until later.
This is true. Dr visit (co-pay) blood (co-pay) call to review blood (co-pay) need different meds (co-pay) it would be referred to as nickel and dime stuff but it adds hundreds of dollars to your medical expenses.
Yes copays are getting higher fir sure but look at your Express Scripts the cost of medicine is rising too. Each time I receive maintenance drugs they are a few dollars more. UFT- Useless for Teachers
mea
They give you a big song and dance about how there are no premiums but there seems no limit to what they charge in copays. That’s how they get around it. The good news is you can avoid them by never getting sick.
The bad news is, even if you aren’t stuck in “Advantage,” they’re coming for you next.
Please answer. Seek a list of all schools under custodial review in City of New York for last 25 years.
At the RTC Healthcare Committee meeting in July 2021 with the Emblem and Anthem (Alliance) CEOs, Mulgrew announced that beginning on January 1st, 2022, Emblem would begin charging copays for pretty much everything in the GHI Senior Care plan. Instead of saying that this was outrageous and that he would fight against this abuse, he used it as a sales pitch for why retirees should docilely accept the Alliance’s Medicare Advantage plan. His pitch was: “Golly, GHI Senior Care is going to start costing you so much more money, why not just accept the Mulgrewcare MAP?”
Either the UFT’s brilliant legal team from Stroock & Stroock never told Mulgrew that Emblem’s copay scheme was illegal, or they did tell him, and he didn’t care.
Fortunately, someone did stop the illegal copays: The legal team retained by Marianne Pizzatola’s NYC Retirees group. Some people are fighting for UFT retirees (but Michael Mulgrew ain’t among them).
And that was also a ploy! They wanted to make the Ghi senior care plan so painful to stay in that you would go to Mulgrew care! And how ironic Mulgrew care now has co-pays on everything! The drug plan premium on the advantage plant cost more of the drugs are astronomically expensive. Talk about your bait and switch.
Seems something is going on with Welfare Fund dental benefits for In Service teachers as well. Was on UFT website trying to access list of participating panelists in my area and kept getting directed to a page to sign up for a “Direct Access” program charging a yearly FEE.
I will be looking into it a little more today.