Health Insurance Stabilization Fund Misused By City’s Municipal Labor Committee: Comptroller Lander Releases Long Awaited Audit

Health Insurance Stabilization Fund Misused By City’s Municipal Labor Committee: Comptroller Lander Releases Long Awaited Audit

 

Editor’s note: As of right now, the battle to maintain City worker’s health insurance has become a political battle only.  Unfortunately, the highest court in New York sided with the City, since they were attempting to prove the most difficult claim – that the lifetime health insurance promise was in writing, and that it was part of the contract or healthcare manuals that were provided to workers.  This unfortunately was not the case.  The statements were made orally and informally, making it difficult to prove directly.  This case can go back to court on some of the other claims, but as of now the fight is in the law area, specifically urging the City Coucil to support Intro 1096 and pass it.  With that, the health insurance that was available to all municipal workers in 2020 would be part of their contracted promises for their lifetime of work for the City.  

 

On December 30, 2025 Comptroller Brad Lander released his long awaited audit of the City and Municipal Labor Committee’s’ (MLC) misuse of the Health Insurance Stabilization Fund. A misuse that has driven the fund to insolvency leaving it with $3.5 billion in undisclosed, unpayable obligations and jeopardized the entire NYC Health Program, which provides health insurance for 1.2 million employees, retirees, and their dependents. The NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees applauds Comptroller Lander for conducting this audit for all the right reasons. The transition team for the incoming Comptroller, Mark Levine, is led by Henry Garrido, Executive Director of District Council 37, one of the parties to the misuse of the fund.

 

“Garrido is a leader of Levine’s transition committee. A spokesperson for Levine’s transition did not respond to a request for comment,” wrote journalist Claudia Irizarry-Aponte from The City. Irizarry-Aponte reported, “The probe paints a picture of the city and the unions using the fund as a virtual piggy bank, authorizing $4.3 billion from 2001 to 2024 in lump sum payments to the city and to union-administered general welfare funds, including $1 billion to cover the costs of raises, deferred layoffs and other benefits.” Lander’s team found the Mayor’s Office of Labor Relations (OLR) “submitted false annual certifications to the Comptroller’s Office, asserting in writing that the Fund is in compliance with Directive 27 requirements, that Fund balances are accurate, and that the Fund will be used for its stated purposes. The Fund balances were not accurate, and the Fund, which was established for the purpose of maintaining a reserve, has no reserves and is unable to meet its financial obligations.”

 

In short, the City lied about mismanaging billions of dollars. And OLR (i.e., the City) and the MLC “authorized significant transfers or payments from HISF that were not consistent with the Fund’s declared purpose(s). OLR and the MLC knew as early as 2018 that the Fund would be insolvent by FY2021 unless significant action was taken, but did not take timely or effective action to identify and implement sufficient savings or new alternative revenue streams. HISF has also continued to fund additional benefits that it could not support.”

 

The audit found the City and MLC created a piggybank for their own misuse and hid their actions. “By not establishing governing documents, setting agendas, or recording meeting minutes for the Technical Committee, OLR and the MLC significantly reduce transparency and accountability of the HISF.” These are all points the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees testified to and begged the City Council and its committees to look into.

 

The audit report notes that the City and MLC attempted to put a Band-Aid on their self-inflicted gunshot wound by taking Medicare-eligible retirees off their Medicare plan. Comptroller Lander found that this measure in no way would have solved the insolvency problem, and the City and MLC knew it. Lander observes that the City and MLC’s plan to force retirees off of Medicare was essentially them saying, “Look we did something! So what if it cost these elderly and disabled retirees money, their healthcare, and unnecessary stress?”

 

As the new administration took over on January 1, it is worth remembering that the Mayor’s transition team includes not only Henry Garrido (the executive director of DC37, who also leads the incoming Comptroller’s transition team), but also Michael Mulgrew (United Federation of Teachers), Gloria Middleton (CWA1180), Bob Linn (former OLR Commissioner), and Dean Fuleihan (incoming Deputy Mayor). They are the original architects of the scheme to diminish current retirees’ health benefits and finances.

 

The NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees is going to continue to watch Henry, Michael, Gloria, Bob, Dean, the leadership of the MLC, and Mayor Mamdani to see if municipal retirees are included in the people the Mayor-elect says deserve dignity and affordability. Imposing unexpected and unaffordable healthcare costs on elderly and disabled retired City workers, and forcing them into privately run Medicare Advantage plans, would contradict the fundamental tenets of Mayor Mamdani’s platform.

For nearly half a decade, the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees has successfully fought to preserve the healthcare benefits that retirees earned and deserve, despite the City and MLC’s attempts to sell off those benefits in response to their own financial mismanagement. In 2026, the Organization and its retiree members pray that the next Mayor and City Council pass legislation to protect current retirees’ earned healthcare benefits from this kind of malfeasance so we never have to go through this again. To Comptroller Lander and his team, job well done.

 

Banner Image: Comptroller Lander standing in solidarity with CUNY and universities. Image Credit – Comptroller Lander