NYC retirees upend union election over switch to Aetna Medicare Advantage dispute.

Retired teachers opposing a switch in their healthcare benefits from traditional Medicare to Aetna Medicare Advantage scored a landslide win over a slate associated with United Federation of Teachers (UFT) President Michael Mulgrew, who leads 200,000 educators and others who work in the public school system.

At stake in the election were 25 leadership positions and 300 seats reserved for retirees in the 3,400 member city union assembly, its legislative body. The insurgents, the NY Post reports, appear to have swept the contest by a 2-1 margin.

A New York judge ruled last year that the switch to Medicare Advantage violated city agreements with retirees, writing in July, “have shown that numerous promises were made by the City to then-New York City employees and future retirees that they would receive a Medicare supplemental plan when they retired, and that their first level of coverage once [they] retired would [be] Medicare.”

The healthcare contract for 250,000 retirees was a big catch for Hartford-based Aetna, owned by CVS. The process of awarding the deal was mired in several years of litigation between and among health insurers fighting to overturn city decisions and retirees arguing Medicare Advantage does not provide the benefits they were promised. City officials estimated the Medicare Advantage plan would save $600 million a year.

Published June 17, 2024.