Dear NY1 Producers,
The June 23, 2023 edition of “Inside City Hall,” which had DC37 executive director Henry Garrido as a guest, was fraught with misinformation and erroneously characterized Council Member Charles Barron’s bill, which supports retirees right to choose their healthcare plan. At the outset, Mr. Louis said that “labor leaders” support Mayor Adams’ privatization plan. It is more accurate to say “some” labor leaders, because there are those leaders who do not.
The “Inside City Hall” program did not have a discussion of the numerous shortcomings of the proposed change to a privatized retirees’ healthcare plan, Medicare Advantage Plan (MAP) in partnership with Aetna, which interestingly was the sponsor of that segment of the program.
The present healthcare plan, Senior Care, which is favored by many retirees, as evidenced by their overwhelming presence and testimony at City Council committee hearings on the matter, and the participation of hundreds of retirees at the rally held Thursday, June 22, 2023, outside of City Hall in support of Council Member Barron’s bill. The Barron bill supports Article 12.126 of the New York City Charter which says that the city will pay for retiree healthcare, as the city has done for the past 57 years.
It appears that Mr. Louis was not privy to many of the facts about the differences between the current healthcare plan and what the new plan proposes. When Mr. Garrido said that the proposed privatized plan, MAP, would cap out-of-pocket costs, this could have been a critical journalistic moment for Mr. Louis to have asked how that is an improvement, when there are presently NO costs, NO copayments, and NO premiums, and a wide array of healthcare services in the existing senior care plan. (A point of clarification, DC37 does not represent retirees, so they can’t “vote him out.”)
Most retirees favor being able to keep their preferred doctor and not have to change, which MAP would force them to do. The retirees should have a choice to keep their Senior Care, if they prefer, instead of being forced into a privatized Medicare Advantage Plan with Aetna, which does not allow its employees to unionize. Additionally, Aetna has a history of issuing policies on enslaved Africans that benefitted the white slave owner. Interestingly, there was no mention of this during the entire interview. The Barron bill gives retirees that freedom to choose a healthcare plan that they feel is most beneficial to them.
We expect New York 1 to afford Council Member Charles Barron, the prime sponsor of the bill, the opportunity to present an opposing view. We request that Council Member Charles Barron be invited to be the guest on “New York 1” on Monday, June 26, 2023, to offer your viewers a timely, informed perspective of this critically important issue.
Looking forward to your response,
Inez Barron, co-founder, Operation P.O.W.E.R. (People Organizing and Working for Empowerment and Respect)