<"LOOK WHO SOLD US OUT!"
OUR NEXT MEETING IS ON Tuesday, APRIL 25th-
NEW INSTRUCTIONS AS WE BACK UP THE NYC PUBLIC RETIREES
HEY LOOK! PLAN "C" WOULD STILL SAVE CITY $-COME ON ADAMS, WAKE UP!
Contrary to city officials’ contentions, giving municipal retirees the option to keep their preferred, premium-free health-care benefits would yield substantial cost-savings for the city,
a policy expert is arguing.
According to calculations by Barbara Caress, a health-policy professor at Baruch College, the city would realize nearly $350 million in health-care savings if it were to choose a Medicare Advantage plan that gives retirees the ability to opt out in favor of a supplemental care plan.
A spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams’ administration had said choosing that option — so-called Option C among three included in an imminent agreement with managed-care company Aetna — “would result in minimal savings” and essentially nullify the budget-reducing reasons for switching retirees from traditional, government-administered Medicare to a private Medicare Advantage plan. “As a result, we do not intend to offer this option to retirees,” the spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement. The spokesperson had not yet seen Caress’ computations.
Caress, a member of the Professional Staff Congress, released her calculations March 23. The city is expected to inform Aetna which of the three plan options it will choose April 1.
According to Caress, switching all roughly 222,000 retirees into a so-called full replacement Aetna plan would save the city an estimated $522 million. But choosing Option C, which would give retirees the option of supplemental health coverage, albeit at a an additional cost to the city of $20 per month per retiree, would still yield savings of $342 million when estimating that 60,000 would opt out of the Aetna plan in favor of the supplemental plan, Caress calculated.
“And in what universe is it no savings?” she said during a March 24 interview. “Don't dismiss that as minimal. That's not minimal, that's a lot of money.” The Professional Staff Congress has also suggested alternative routes to health-care savings for the city.
‘A surprise to many of us’
The PSC’s president, James Davis, said the very existence of Option C and its terms, which only came to light this week, was a revelation to most labor leaders and City Council members.
The city’s pending agreement with Aetna received a solid endorsement from the Municipal Labor Committee, the umbrella organization of public-sector unions, earlier this month.
“I think that it came as a surprise to many of us in organized labor to realize that eliminating Senior Care was not a precondition of the city signing the contract with Aetna because that is how it had been represented to us,” Davis said, referring to the retirees’ current supplemental plan. “So I think what's happening now is that it's taking time for the fact of this Option C to become known and some of the implications to sink in,” including for labor leaders as well as for the City Council, which could yet have a say in how health care is allocated
to municipal retirees.
Among the three options, it appears that the administration will choose what Aetna is calling the “full replacement option,” which would entail a switch of all municipal retirees into its Medicare Advantage plan. That step will essentially culminate a years-long effort by city officials to realize what they have estimated would be
annual savings of about $600 million.
The savings, in the form of federal subsidies, would be funneled into the city’s Joint Health Insurance Premium Stabilization Fund, which helps finance unions’ welfare fund benefits, among other purposes.
City labor officials have long insisted that any private Medicare plan would be as good or better than the retirees’ current plan and Mayor Eric Adams said as much following the MLC’s vote. Aetna’s plan, he said, “improves upon retirees’ current plans.” He noted that it includes a lower deductible, a cap on out-of-pocket expenses as well as added benefits such as transportation,
fitness programs and wellness incentives.
WHAT CAN WE DO TO START PUTTING THE PRESSURE ON?
We want to start putting pressure on Brad Lander, NYC Comptroller, to not register the Medicare advantage contract with Aetna.
It’s very easy to do. Click on FIND OUT MORE, there you will be prompted to fill out your info, then click on START WRITING and then click on "SEND LETTER"-Pretty Easy.
MLC VOTES YES FOR AETNA PLAN
NYC Municipal Labor Committee Chair Harry Nespoli issued the following statement: The MLC today approved moving forward with a Medicare Advantage PPO agreement between the City of New York and Aetna with 79% of the votes cast in favor of the agreement. "We look forward to ensuring a robust quality plan for our retirees and their families," said Nespoli. "We will be vigilant in making sure that our retirees' welfare remains front and center in the administration of the plan." The MLC is a consortium of 102 municipal unions representing some 385,000 active workers and 250,000 retirees, which together with their collective dependents, approximate 1.1 million covered lives.
THE NYC ORGANIZATION OF PUBLIC RETIREES ARE NOW ENGAGED THROUGH THE CITY COUNCIL TO ALLOW A MEDIGAP PLAN INTO THE MIX. PLEASE USE THE FOLLOWING LINK TO SEE WHETHER YOUR DOCTOR(S) ARE IN THE NEW AETNA NETWORK. IF THEY ARE NOT PLEASE ALERT NYCOPR SO THEY CAN USE YOUR INFORMATION TO ALLOW ANOTHER PLAN; A MEDIGAP PLAN SO WE WOULD HAVE A CHOICE IN SELECTING A PLAN. RIGHT NOW WE ONLY HAVE THE AETNA PLAN OR THE HIP PLAN.
SO CLICK ON THIS LINK TO SEE WHETHER YOUR DOCTORS ARE IN THE PLAN: Provider Search - Home (aetna.com)
ONCE YOU ARE THERE, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO REGISTER, JUST CONTINUE AS A "GUEST"
USE YOUR HOME ZIP CODE AS YOUR HOME ADDRESS, IT WILL BE FASTER AND THEN YOU WILL BE ABLE TO SEARCH TO SEE IF YOUR CURRENT DOCTORS AND HOSPITALS ARE IN THE NETWORK. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE CORRECT SPELLING OF HIS or HER NAME.
IF ONE OF YOUR DOCTORS ARE NOT IN THE NETWORK, SEND THAT NOTIFICATION TO ME; bill@fdnyrma.org
I WILL COMPRISE A LIST OF DOCTORS, SPECIALISTS, HOSPITALS AND OTHER HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS THAT ARE NOT IN THE NETWORK AND THEN SEND IT OFF TO MARIANNE.
SO FAR WE HAVE FOUND THAT STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL IS NOT IN THE PLAN. IF YOU HAVE MORE OF THESE PLEASE EMAIL ME- bill@fdnyrma.org
MARIANNE WILL BE SENDING OUT MORE INFORMATION ABOUT WHAT OUR NEXT STEPS ARE. THOSE LETTERS YOU HAVE RECEIVED ARE DAUNTING AND IT GIVES YOU ONLY ONE CHOICE-THE AETNA PLAN. IT ALSO "THREATENS" YOU IF YOU DECIDE TO OPT OUT, YOU WILL LOSE YOUR MEDICARE PART B REIMBURSEMENT AND YOUR IRMA. HOPEFULLY THOSE LETTERS WILL SOON HAVE TO ADD ANOTHER PLAN, AN ADDENDUM, LET'S HOPE.
THE REALITY:
On Thursday March 9th, the Municipal Labor Committee (MLC) voted to implement the Aetna Medicare Advantage plan for Medicare eligible retirees without ever seeing the contract. EVER. And never having a discussion as a committee on the features, or bringing in a Medicare Representative and Senior Care rep either. AETNA provided answers to their many questions on Monday night, and this vote was held Thursday without any discussion.
They also eliminated all health plan options and said if we opt out of their dream plan, we opt out to nothing, and we lose our Medicare B reimbursement. Those not on a welfare fund drug plan who buy the city rider, lose that too.
Several unions have said this was our fault because the City Council did not change the Admin Code to their proposed language. This, was actually THEIR doing but they refuse to own it. THEY broke the law, and tried to strip us from our benefits. If the union leaders used common sense, they would have realized retirees do not make their salaries, and could not afford to pay a starting premium of $200 per person per month! They would also realize that their proposed language was not offering a choice - It would for higher income retirees, but not the majority of us. And in a law that was founded in equality, this is not the way.
The unions sold off retiree health care and choice, for their raises and maintaining THEIR premium free healthcare. Say it out loud, because that is what they did.
The MLC under the leadership of Henry Garrido (DC37), Michael Mulgrew (UFT) and Harry Nespoli (SANITATION), Gloria Middleton (CWA 1180) and Greg Floyd (LOCAL 237) are attempting to keep us hostage in a plan that may not serve us, with no safety net options. It is their one plan or the highway.
Our team is currently going through all the documents, and we will hopefully have an announcement or at least begin preparation for litigation shortly - and that will require some homework from you! Stay tuned! This fight is NOT over!
In the meantime, we are working with our legal team and advisors and preparing
for our next steps.
The Retirees
*The image -ABOVE- is an accounting of how the unions voted. A YES vote, was a vote to eliminate ALL healthcare choices and force retirees into Managed Medicare Advantage with NO choices. Make sure you thank them for selling off retirees to benefit themselves. The NO votes were unions that wanted to protect healthcare, ABSTAINED voters, are the ones that were there, but did not want to vote, and their presence did not count towards the weighted vote, and the NO SHOWS, is self explanatory. Remember the weighted vote in the MLC has DC37 and the UFT with the most members, and at 1 vote per every 250 members, they can pass a motion on their own. Why the other union did not whip the vote to block the, we will never understand.
HERE'S WHAT THE PLAN LOOKS LIKE THAT WE WILL BE FORCIBLY PUSHED INTO:
- The Medicare Advantage Plan becomes effective September 1, 2023.
- Plan choice will be limited to only the Aetna Medicare Advantage PPO and the Emblem Health HIP-VIP HMO Plan.
- All other Medicare plans previously provided by NYC Office of Labor Relations (OLR) will be ended and plan participants will automatically be disenrolled from their current Medicare plans and re-enrolled in the new Aetna Medicare Advantage PPO.
- Medicare qualified plan participant requesting “to move to” Emblem Health HIP-VIP will need to prepare a “Health Benefits Program Retiree Application/Change Form” (www.nyc.gov/olr).
- 80% of the standard Aetna plan “Prior Authorizations” have been waived (this is negotiable every two years) at a cost to NYC- OLR of $15.00 per participant per month. This along with a zero (0) premium cost to OLR for participants benefit outlines their total benefits’ cost obligations. A significant savings from the $191.00 PMPM (per member per month) under GHI-Senior Care. This arrangement provides future value for UFT and DC 37 to barter for future Collective Bargaining Agreements.
- Any plan participant opting out of the new Aetna MA plan or HIP VIP or waiving OLR coverage, will not be eligible to receive the annually Medicare Part B reimbursement or the IRMAA from OLR, SO IF YOU OPT OUT OF THE NYC MAP YOU WILL LOSE YOUR PART B REIMBURSEMENT, ON AVERAGE YOU WILL LOSE $2,000.00 ANNUALLY. ALSO YOU WILL LOSE YOUR IRMAA WHICH COULD BE SUBSTANTIAL DEPENDING ON YOUR SITUATION. MARIANNE AND HER STAFF ARE PREPARING FOR A REBUTTAL TO THIS, SO WE WILL HAVE TO SIT AND WAIT......
Members are strongly encouraged to go on the OLR website and review the “Evidence of Coverage: Your Medicare Health Benefits and Services as a Member of Aetna Medicare Advantage PPO Plan” (https://www.nyc.gov/assets/olr/downloads/pdf/rfp/ma-hearing/cony-ma-eoc-soc-02102023.pdf) . This document gives you the fine details about the Aetna Medicare Advantage PPO Plan coverage from September 1, 2023 – December 31, 2023. Ironically, this document only covers the implementation period although the term of the OLR-Aetna contract spans five (5) years and four (4) months expiring 12/31/28.
The City Failed three times to push us into a MAP, but now they are going for Four!
BUT WE WON'T LET THEM!, CONTINUE READING...
NYC PUBLIC RETIREES ORGANIZATION IS PREPPING FOR #4 LAWSUIT. DONATIONS NEEDED TO
HEAD OFF THE MAYOR AT THE PASS
YOU CAN ALSO SEND A CHECK THE OLD FASHION WAY
THRU THE US MAIL:
Make your check out to:
NYC Organization of
Public Service Retirees
c/o JSH Accounting Services LLC
PO Box 143538
Fayetteville, GA 30214
"WHATS ON THE SITE THIS WEEK:
TIME TO MAKE THE CALLS (AGAIN)
TIME TO MAKE THE CALLS (AGAIN)
TIME TO MAKE THE CALLS (AGAIN)
NEXT MEETING, LAST MEETING
TIME TO MAKE THE CALLS (AGAIN)
TIME TO MAKE THE CALLS (AGAIN)
OUR NEWEST PAGE
TIME TO MAKE THE CALLS (AGAIN)
FDNY IN THE SKY!
EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT
MEDICARE-ESPECIALLY THE PART B REIMBURSEMENT AND THE IRMAA
FDNY IN THE SKY!
CARMELO PUCCIA-50 YEARS LATER...
FDNY IN THE SKY!
CARMELO PUCCIA-50 YEARS LATER...
CARMELO PUCCIA-50 YEARS LATER...
CARMELO PUCCIA-50 YEARS LATER...
HEALTH CARE
CARMELO PUCCIA-50 YEARS LATER...
CARMELO PUCCIA-50 YEARS LATER...
CITY COUNCIL DOES NOT VOTE ON 0874
The CITY COUNCIL did not Vote on the legislation that was introduced on 1/4/23 which would have forced us into a Medicare Advantage Plan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MANY THANKS TO ALL OF OUR MEMBERS FOR THEIR E-MAILS, PHONE CALLS AND CITY COUNCIL OFFICE VISITS. MANY THANKS GOES OUT TO MARIANNE PIZZITOLA FOR HER KNOWLEDGE ON THIS ISSUE, WITHOUT HER WE WOULD BE UNDER THE THUMB OF THE MAYOR AND PAYING HEAVILY FOR THE MAP.
PLEASE DONATE TO THE NYC ORGANIZATION OF PUBLIC SERVICE RETIREES-THEY NEED OUR HELP! THEY HAVE BEEN BURDENED WITH PAYING FOR THE MULTIPLE LAWSUITS THEY HAVE BROUGHT AGAINST THE CITY OF NEW YORK FOR OUR BENEFIT.
PLEASE BE GENEROUS! CLICK BELOW \/
NEW LOCATION AND PHONE NUMBER FOR FIRE PENSIONS
The Fire Department Pension fund has relocated from headquarters to its new location in Manhattan.
The address is 1 Battery Park Plaza, 9th Floor NY , NY 10004-1405
Phone number : 929 436 0099
Please see the attachment for further details.
(CLICK ON "FIND OUT MORE")
About Us
Who We Are
Get Involved
Get Involved
We are Retired NYC Firefighters of all ranks. We meet five times per year at two locations; 901 Lakeville Road in New Hyde Park and 3051 Nostrand Ave in Brooklyn, NY. Through our Newsletter and this website we hope to keep you informed about your pensions.
Get Involved
Get Involved
Get Involved
Are you passionate about what we're doing? Let us know! We are always looking for volunteers to help us make our organization better for our members. We'll help you find a way to volunteer that best suits you. We're excited to have you join the team!
Thank You
Get Involved
Thank You
Whether you help through monetary donations, volunteering your time, or spreading our mission through word-of-mouth, thank you. We couldn't accomplish our goals without the help
of supporters like you.
Download The 2023 RMA Application:
2023 RMA Application with Lapel Pin (docx)
DownloadJOIN US THE OLD FASHION WAY :
HERE'S HOW TO JOIN:
RETIRED MEMBER'S ASSOCIATION, INC
Fire Department, City of New York
ORGANIZED JANUARY 1ST, 1946
APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP
We offer two types of Membership.
Life Membership- one time payment of $250.00 gives you a gold RMA Membership Card and our periodic newsletters.
Annual Membership-Annual dues of $25.00 gives you 1 year of membership with associated Card, and one year of issued Newsletters.
Once you have decided on
the type of Membership you desire,
download the PDF Application above,
fill out and send with your check
made payable to the RMA
and send via US Mail to:
The RMA
PO Box 1332
Baldwin, NY 11510
[Add Payment for the Lapel Pin(s) with your Dues Check]
(see Lapel Pin above-right)
Both Life and Annual Members will receive Critical Instant Updates as
long as New Member provides a credible E-mail Address.
Lapel Pin, pictured above available for sale: PRICE: $6.00 for one pin or two for $10.00
Copyright © 2023 Retired Member's Association of the NYC Fire Dept. - All Rights Reserved.
Powered by GoDaddy