The latest on Randi-Care. AKA, Medicare Disadvantage.

If the law stops the forced enrollment of city workers into an MA plan just change the law.

This is an important week for New York City public employees, active and retired and their resistance to pushing them into privatized Medicare (dis)Advantage.

Early last year a New York State Supreme Court judge halted New York Mayor Eric Adams’ attempt to force 250,000 retired city workers to a private Medicare Advantage plan, saying it violated city law.

So this week the administration has pushed for the City Council to consider a change to the law. 

Section 12-126 of the City Administrative Code states that the city “will pay the entire cost of health insurance coverage for city employees, city retirees.

Adams is working in cahoots with most of the main city workers’ unions.

None of the city’s union leaders have been pushing harder than the United Teachers Union leader, Michael Mulgrew.

Of course Mulgrew is just following the lead of the head of his national union, Randi Weingarten.

Weingarten is in opposition to Medicare for All. She has stated she believes workers are better off bargaining health care through their local contracts.

Thousands of individual local contracts.

This has not worked well even for many unionized workers who have been forced into shitty contracts.

It leaves out the millions of American workers and jobless that don’t don’t have union contracts at all.

Yesterday New York City Council leaders announced that they will consider legislation to roll back Section 12-126.

The New York example of what what some are calling “Randi-Care” was first proposed by ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Under the Adams/Mulgrew plan retirees who opt to go with their traditional Medicare plans would have to cough up a monthly $191 fee.

In Illinois, teachers who choose traditional Medicare are similarly denied a subsidy that is only for the state’s Aetna MA plan. The subsidy is funded by payments all Illinois teachers made before we retired.

Retirees protesting the Medicare Advantage situation relating to the 12-126 law outside of City Hall, Manhattan, New York, Wednesday, October 12, 2022. (Shawn Inglima/for New York Daily News)

If I were a New York City teacher or public employee I would be calling my city council member today.