Summary of Legal Filing to Save Medicare (NYC/UFT)

On Wednesday, May 31 the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees went to the Supreme Court of the State of New York to stop New York City from forcing its retirees off of Medicare and into an Aetna/CVS Medicare Advantage. (“supreme” sounds high – in New York it is not)

There is the case, and other filings, including a request for a temporary restraining order (TRO). Here is an excerpt/summary:

The City’s radical overhaul of Retiree healthcare is not just harmful, it is also unlawful. Although there are a dozen ways in which the City is violating the law (which are detailed in the Petition/Complaint), for the sake of judicial efficiency, we focus here on only five.

First, because the City clearly and unambiguously promised every Retiree that they would be entitled to City-funded Medicare-plus-supplemental insurance when they became Medicare-eligible, and because Retirees reasonably relied to their detriment on that promise, the City is estopped from denying them such insurance coverage now.

Second, because the City’s new healthcare policy will force Retirees with life-threatening illnesses whose doctors will not accept the Aetna MAP to either switch doctors mid-treatment or proceed without insurance coverage, it is arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion, in violation of CPLR 7803(3).

Third, because the City will be diminishing the healthcare benefits provided to Retirees and the contributions made to their health insurance without similarly diminishing either the benefits or contributions for active employees, it is violating in two separate ways the Retiree Health Insurance Moratorium Act.

Fourth, because the City has changed the rules governing Retiree healthcare without complying with the procedures required under the City Administrative Procedure Act, its new healthcare policy is invalid.

And fifth, because the City is providing incomplete and inaccurate information about the Aetna MAP, Retirees cannot make an informed opt-out decision by the June 30 deadline.

The City is on the verge of stripping a quarter-million elderly and disabled Retirees of Medicare benefits they were promised and desperately need. Given the extreme suffering this will cause and Petitioners’ likelihood of success on the merits, this Court should temporarily enjoin the City’s new healthcare policy pending a decision on the merits. The City has provided, and Retirees have relied on, Medicare plus supplemental insurance for the past 57 years. This Court should maintain that critical status quo while this case proceeds.

Complete documentation accessible at https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/DocumentList?docketId=_PLUS_IDYK0flEDapsoEVXJNmnw%3D%3D&display=all&courtType=New%20York%20County%20Supreme%20Court&resultsPageNum=1&fbclid=IwAR0LUAbRq8dHnk2C6YhIYmHeICHViyH8MjfiGEP9ahNglx2pWJn7wB-oRu0

(this was distributed by Dave Newman to his West Midwood listserve – someone shared that posting on the Retiree Advocate listserve, which is where I took it from)