NYC Retirees Are Victorious Against Mayor Eric Adams Medicare Advantage Push

Mayor Eric Adams abruptly ends plan to force 250,000 retired city workers into a privatized health plan, marking a watershed win for a bipartisan grassroots movement.

Retirees across the country who have been fighting efforts by their employers to move them against their will into private Medicare Advantage plans got a monumental win on Friday. 

After a years-long, contentious battle with New York City’s municipal retirees, Mayor Eric Adams announced Friday afternoon that his administration was pulling the plug on a scheme, initiated by former Mayor Bill de Blasio, that would have forced 250,000 of the city’s retirees into an Aetna Medicare Advantage plan.

We first reported on this nearly two and a half years ago in a story about the efforts of a scrappy, tenacious group of retirees to get Adams to back down. For years, the city has been subsidizing retirees’ Medicare supplement policies, enabling them to remain in traditional Medicare and avoid high out-of-pocket costs when they need care. Adams and De Blasio had claimed the city could save $600 million a year by moving retirees into Medicare Advantage, which, unlike traditional Medicare, makes patients get pre-approval from an insurer for a long list of treatments and medications. Numerous studies have shown that people enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans frequently encounter prior-authorization denials, forcing patients to go without needed care or to go deep into debt to get it. Also unlike traditional Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans exclude many doctors and hospitals from their networks. Almost all health care providers participate in traditional Medicare. 

Adams said Friday afternoon, just two days after a court ruling that would have enabled him to move forward with the forced migration of retirees to Medicare Advantage, that the city has found other ways to save money. He added:

We have heard concerns from retirees about these potential changes at numerous older adult town halls and public events, and our administration remains focused on ensuring that New York City remains an affordable place to live. Thankfully, we have found other ways to address health care costs while providing quality health care coverage for our city’s workers, and we have decided not to move forward with the Medicare Advantage plan at this time.

Adams was referring to an announcement earlier this month that the city is working with insurers to redesign health benefits for current municipal workers and save the city $1 billion a year. 

Adams’ capitulation represented a huge victory for the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees, a grassroots organization led by Marianna Pizzitola, a retired fire department emergency medical specialist and comprising thousands of retired EMTs, firefighters, cops, teachers and other city workers. 

Marianne Pizzitola, President of NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees.

A big reason why the organization was ultimately successful was the broad ideological span of its membership. As Pizzatola told me in January 2023:

I stay out of the fray of political bias. We have a large number of members on the left and right. But we are aligned on a mutual message. Medicare Advantage was supposed to be an option and not just imposed on us. Despite any differences we may have, we can all unite behind that.

Knowing of my concerns about Medicare Advantage from my two decades working for big insurers that sell MA plans to seniors and employers, Pizzitola asked me to testify before the New York City Council in early 2023. I was blunt in my remarks: 

Medicare Advantage is a money-making scam. And I should know. I helped to sell it. 

So I implore you not to vote in favor of herding the city’s retirees into Medicare Advantage plans. Doing so will not make retirees healthier. But it will make the bottom line of big insurance corporations much healthier – with the hard-earned tax dollars of the people of this city. 

To its credit, council members ultimately decided not to endorse the Adams administration’s plan to move retirees to MA. But the retirees would have to go on to fight the move in the courts. They won all of their legal challenges except the one Friday morning that gave Adams the green light to go forward. Hours later, Adams, who is up for reelection this year, surprised everyone by announcing his decision not to move forward. 

When I asked Pizzatola for a reaction, she was conciliatory and expressed appreciation to the mayor and other political leaders who had sided with the retirees in their fight. That includes former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, who are among the candidates running to replace Adams in November.

The mayor always said he would ‘land the plane’ and we are glad he has. We are really appreciative of the labor leaders who supported us in our darkest days, and every single politician who endorsed our movement and listened, that Medicare Advantage is NOT Medicare and NOT an advantage!

Over the past several years, other employers, in both the private and public sectors, have forced retirees into Medicare Advantage plans. Adams’ retreat should send a message to them and any other employers who might be hoping to do what New York tried to pull off. Seniors everywhere are waking to the many disadvantages of private Medicare replacement plans, and they do not want to be forced into them.