Our dedicated New York City retirees helped build and sustain this city.
These everyday heroes were promised specific healthcare benefits as part of their compensation package on the day they were hired way back when.
That is why, in solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of New York City retirees, I am signing on as a co-sponsor to Intro 1096 because I believe our city must honor – and never break – the covenant with our retired city workers.
As Chair of the City Council’s Finance Committee, it is my responsibility to negotiate and oversee a budget that protects the fiscal health of our City and the essential services that nearly 9 million New Yorkers rely on. To that end, I have serious concerns over the rapid rise in healthcare costs – particularly hospitalization and prescription drugs – and its impacts on our city’s bottom line. However, revoking promised benefits from vulnerable retirees in the middle of the game is completely unfair and wrong. And the courts have agreed time and time again.
We also can’t ignore the facts: major news investigations and government studies have shown that Medicare Advantage plans are rife with fraud, corruption, and denials of necessary care. Retirees deserve better than to be pushed into a system that puts profits over patients.
And let’s be clear: while we are fighting to protect retiree healthcare in New York City, Trump Republicans in Washington are brazenly trying to gut Medicare and Medicaid entirely. We can’t let that happen nationally, and we sure as hell can’t let it start here at home. New York must lead by example and stand up against any attempts at health care privatization.
As someone who strongly believes healthcare is a human right, not a privilege, and should be accessible to all regardless of income, I reject for-profit healthcare systems which inject market-based principles and put profits over patient care, leading to high costs, less access, and poor outcomes.
The City of New York must maintain its commitment to both our active and retired city workers by ensuring they receive the benefits they were promised on the day they were hired. We must never pit retirees and active employees against one another.
For decades, these everyday heroes worked for the greatest city in the world with the expectation that upon their retirement they would enjoy these promised benefits. The City of New York cannot turn its back on them. Not now, not ever.
NYC Councilman Justin Brannan is Chairman of the NYC Council Finance Committee and a candidate for NYC Comptroller.
