Mayor Eric Adams scored a massive legal win in the controversial battle to move retired city workers to higher cost health-care plans — but nearly all the candidates running to replace him as mayor are already planning to stop the move in its tracks.
The Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the city could shift retirees to Medicare Advantage plans – a private healthcare program that utilizes Medicare subsidies in lieu of traditional Medicare and supplements – after years of fighting by retiree advocacy groups.
The ruling found that retirees who sued over the change had insufficiently argued that adopting the advantage plans would lead to worsened care and that assurances that the city would keep them on Medicare plans wasn’t legally enforceable.
Adams’ term is up at year’s end and he dropped out of a Democratic Party primary that is set for next week.
Adams is now running as an independent in a longshot bid, though the Democratic Party torchbearer would be far and away the favorite to win election in the deeply blue city.
Mayoral hopefuls Comptroller Brad Lander and frontrunner Andrew Cuomo have both publicly opposed the switch and have specifically called for 30-to-60 day grace periods for families to seek other insurance after the death of a retiree and expediting the reimbursements process, as part of their pledge to retiree groups.
Every other candidate – with the exception of independent Jim Walden – also oppose the switch, according to a Citizen Budget Commission questionnaire.
While surging socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani recently opposed the plan on his campaign website, a source with knowledge told The Post that he didn’t sign a pledge to support the retirees nor did he go to the debate hosted by the advocacy group New York City Public Service Retirees.
The source continued to say that this was in order to prevent losing an endorsement from the public service union DC37, which supports the switch to Medicare advantage plans.
The Mamdani campaign pointed to a prior 2022 statement where the Assemblyman opposed switching to Medicare Advantage but declined to comment about allegedly staying tightlipped in an effort to lose support.
The ruling even raised the ire of comptroller candidate Justin Brannan.
“Our city should never, ever be screwing retirees. And neither should the courts. No one will ever want to work for New York City again. Medicare Advantage is a bait and switch scam. Enough!” Brannan said.
Comptroller candidate and current Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine didn’t respond to a request for comment but said in a recent debate that he would make a decision on “the details of the plan in consultation with retirees, with current workers, with labor leaders.”
The plan was first introduced by former Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2021, who argued the program would lead to over $600 million in annual savings by utilizing federal subsidies.
The mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
