Marianne Pizzitola Of NYC Org Of Public Service Retirees Makes Statement About Forced Health Care Change By Adams’ Administration

New York City Organization Of Public Service Retirees Responds To NYC Council Decision To Table Healthcare Privatization

“Mayor Adams’s devastating announcement that he won’t give retirees the option to stay on their current plan is a betrayal of the City’s moral and legal obligation to its dedicated civil servants. By signing this deal with Aetna, the Mayor is selling out the health of the hundreds of thousands of men and women who dedicated their lives to the City of New York. Now, retired firefighters, police, EMT workers and teachers will be forced into a privatized, managed care plan that has strict in-network, pre-authorization and referral requirements that will cause potentially life-threatening delays and denials of care. Many of the quarter-million respected public servants, and all the current NYC public employees, will be harmed by this damaging decision by Mayor Adams.

“Retirees will now be faced with inhumane decisions about switching their care away from longtime doctors and healthcare providers who accept traditional Medicare, but are not in-network in the restrictive Aetna plan. These dedicated men and women have given up higher wages in the private sector for the promise of healthcare. The only option now on the table puts decisions about retirees’ health in the hands of an insurance company, not our doctors.

“The supposed savings publicized by the Mayor’s office will not be seen by the people of New York City. Rather, they will go into a secret fund that will benefit the Mayor’s administration and the unions. It’s now up to the men and women of the City Council to make sure that the health of the City’s elderly and disabled retired workers remains protected. For these retirees, the fight has just begun.” — Marianne Pizzitola, President of The New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees, March 30, 2023

Banner Image: City workers. Image Credit – Andrew Leu

Marianne Pizzitola NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees

On August 13th, 2021, a group of retirees from many different city agencies got together to form an organization to fight the impending changes to our healthcare. Two and half hours later, five people volunteered to form the Board and one became an advisor to the Board. In the next few weeks, we grew to five officers, four Trustees, five Advisors, started our Facebook group, filed for NYS incorporation, opened our PayPal fundraising account and were approved by the State to conduct business. Six weeks later we met our initial fundraising goal to pay the attorney's retainer and had filed our article 78 petition. Our Facebook page has over 18,000 members and we have an email list of almost 10,000 and both continue to grow. This is a major accomplishment! But we need to grow larger. We need to reach 250,000 retirees!