per request, Eric
________________________________
From: Frank Goldsmith <crinum@xxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, May 20, 2021 8:38 AM
To: Eric russell UUP <ericprussell@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Fwd: New York Daily News eEdition Article
Circulate if you can
Begin forwarded message:
From: crinum@xxxxxxxx
Date: May 20, 2021 at 8:32:18 AM EDT
To: crinum@xxxxxxxx
Subject: New York Daily News eEdition Article
crinum@xxxxxxxx sent you this article.
Comment:
Thursday, May 20, 2021
Hands off our retirement benefits
Forest Hills: As per an agreement between the NYC Municipal Labor Council and
the de Blasio administration at the start of his second term, a bargain was
reached to cut health care costs by attacking the insurance of retirees! People
who worked decades in city service at below-market salaries in exchange for a
pension and good insurance coverage are now faced with having their insurance
changed from Medicare to a Medicare Advantage Plan.
Retirees have not received notice of this plan change or have been given a
chance to vote on this but it is being negotiated by their unions without their
input. Labor union leaders say benefits will not be reduced or costs won't
rise, but if you want to see a specialist not in the plan, it is an
out-of-pocket cost. What senior citizen does not see a cardiologist, cancer
specialist or pulmonologist? Only 40% of physicians accept managed care
benefits. Managed-care plans are for the healthy, not for those with serious or
chronic illness.
Those of us who know how city government works know that the promise to keep
benefits the same is an empty one.. It is a slippery slope with first one union
and then the next, and eventually the state unions are forced to comply.
Eventually all of these retirees will have coverage, but not the excellent
coverage we now have. If costs need to be cut, institute a new insurance plan
on new hires who will get periodic raises, not folks who are too old to work or
are infirm or on fixed incomes.
Carol McDonald Mulvaney
Easy money
Oak Ridge, N.J.: Just read about the next round of stimulus checks. Jesus, Joe,
are your people trying to create a welfare state? People will never get off
their asses and go back to work if you
