City retirees’ org praises Lander audit on city’s health care fund

CITYWIDE — THE NYC ORGANIZATION of Public Service Retirees’ President Marianne Pizzitola, in a statement issued on Wednesday, Dec. 31, praised City Comptroller Brad Lander for an audit showing misuse of the Health Insurance Stabilization Reserve Fund and a proposal to push retirees into a designated Medicare Advantage Plan.

Pizzatola said in her statement, “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?’”

However, she also warned that some of the new members of incoming Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s cabinet were the “architects” of that proposal, specifically DC 37’s executive director Henry Garrido, UFT President Michael Mulgrew and others involved in the Medicare push. Pizzitola said that her retirees’ organization will be closely watching them.

Pizzitola wrote, “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.”

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