Bay Ridge Retirees Sound Off At Justin Brannan For Not Helping Them
If you haven’t heard, former NYC employees such as police officers, firefighters, teachers, etc. lost their healthcare. These retirees were switched from Medicare to Medicare Advantage.
NYC budget cuts were made and 250,000 NYC retired employees can not keep their Federal Medicare.
Bay Ridge residents who held union jobs for many years were shocked that their healthcare plans were changed!
Many people chose to work for NYC because of the excellent healthcare benefits the city offered.
The new plan, called Medicare Advantage is not as good as Medicare because it doesn’t cover some doctors, permission needs to be requested for some doctors and many people are worried about the additional out-of-pocket cost they will incur. This month it was shared that some doctors and hospitals left Medicare Advantage because costs have risen, but this plan was not keeping up. (Info)
This is *not* the same as Medicare!
Many NYC Council members jumped up to support the retirees, but Councilman Justin Brannan did not.
Yesterday, many Bay Ridge residents took to social media and most politely called on Justin Brannan to support Intro 1099 to get their medical coverage back. (See here)
Justin Brannan should not be playing politics here.
People who worked for NYC should not have to fight to keep their healthcare. Playing politics with the retirees medical plan should not be legal.
If Justin Brannan didn’t like Intro 1099, then he should have introduced alternative legislation. Brannan has been silent.
No one who has worked 25+ years for their benefits should be worried about not being about to see the doctors they know or additional costs.
When Brannan ran for office he was pro-union, so there should have been no hesitation on his support for former firefighters, police officers, EMS, educators, etc.
As the head of the NYC Council Finance, Brannan should have sounded off (LOUDLY) when medical plans were threatened.
Senator Andrew Gounardes has also been silent when this change was made. Gounardes likes to play “union supporter” when there is a picture to be taken. (See here) But he goes silent when legislatures should have taken action.
Finally, Bay Ridge Retirees, some Facebook pages censor topics because politics is sticky. Please share at this Bay Ridge community group – Tom understands it needs to be talked about it and won’t shut you down.
Hugs,
marlene
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