Work-Bites, Joe Maniscalco, February 24, 2025

Pending New York City Council legislation aimed at stopping embattled Mayor Eric Adams from stripping municipal retirees of their Traditional Medicare health insurance benefits has picked up added traction and three new cosponsors.

Council Members Shahana Hanif [D-39th District] and Mercedes Narcisse [D-46th District] both signed onto Intro. 1096 last week, despite DC37 Executive Director Henry Garrido’s ongoing campaign of fear and intimidation to scare off support for the bill. Council Member Gale Brewer [D-6th District] also added her name to the bill as Work-Bites was going to press.

Council Member Hanif alluded to pressure from Garrido and DC37 when announcing her support for Intro. 1096—legislation sponsored by fellow Council Member Christopher Marte [D-1st District] which, if passed, would prevent the mayor or any of his successors from taking away the Medicare and Medigap coverage retirees had up until December 31, 2021.

“I am deeply grateful to the hundreds of municipal retirees in my district who have shared how important this bill is to their families,” Council Member Hanif said in a statement released on Thursday, Feb. 21. “I appreciate the patience that they’ve demonstrated as I’ve done my due diligence regarding the bill text. While stakeholders I respect have raised legal concerns that warranted deeper research, ultimately I must stand with my constituents whose health is being put at risk.”

Council Member Hanif further acknowledged the very real harm profit-driven Medicare Advantage plans have been shown to inflict on recipients overall.

“Across the country, privatized Medicare Advantage plans have raised costs and worsened care for seniors,” she said. “It’s inconceivable that Mayor Adams is trying to strip our city’s municipal retirees of their current health insurance and force them onto bad plans.”

It may not seem that inconceivable, however, considering how nicely the five-year Medicare Advantage contract Mayor Adams signed with Aetna in 2023 fits in with Donald Trump’s Project 2025 plan for the demise of Traditional Medicare.

As Work-Bites’ Steve Wishnia pointed out last summer, “If Project 2025—the blueprint for a second Donald Trump administration drawn up by the Heritage Foundation think tank—gets the green light, people signing up for Medicare would be automatically put into a profit-driven ‘Medicare Advantage’ health insurance plan unless they made a special effort to sign up for regular, non-privatized Medicare coverage.”

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