UFT Unity Caucus of Dis-Information on the New York Health Act
Statement from Retired Assemblyman Richard Gottfried Is Included Below
UFT Michael Mendel and his colleagues have plenty to say about subjects they know little about - the NY Health Act (NYHA). There was a point in time when the unions were all behind the NYHA and it was perceived to be a major correction in selling off bits and pieces of healthcare for raises. I’ll write about that change - when and who later. Michael Mulgrew of the UFT, Henry Garrido of DC37 and a few selected others signed non-disclosures to develop a “replacement plan” for the GHICBP plan currently in negotiations. Don’t expect to hear about the tiered hospitals or copays till they roll it out.
Just as we have been saying to in-service workers over the last few years, we said, “Today they are coming after us, tomorrow, they will come after you. Stop this. YOU hold that power. Because if you don’t, we won’t have sympathy for you when it is on YOUR doorstep!”
That said, Michael Mendel cannot see the forest through the trees. He said Mulgrew stated twice he was no longer supporting Medicare Advantage. True, he did say that. However, Michael has Briget Rein lobbying against Intro 1096 at the City Council every opportunity she has, I heard her with my own ears when she did not realize I was standing there. Mulgrew also told the AFL-CIO to nix our state legislation and insert the “Moratorium” language which says ‘benefits for retirees cannot be diminished unless there is an equal diminution to active workers.” In 1967 when that language was first legislated for School district employees and BOCES (and still today, those are the only people covered under that law) it was protection because no labor leader would have ever sought to diminish a retirees benefits and knew if they did for in-service employees, it would be political suicide.
Today, these ‘leaders’ are doing just that; selling off our healthcare at the bargaining table to fund raises thus the Moratorium language is no protection. He wants our bill dead, because it stops them from passing costs onto retirees. 1096 does NOT impact bargaining - retirees are not in bargaining units.
Enter Michael Mulgrew. In 2014 he diminished healthcare FOR EVERYONE! Every copay and deductible, narrow network or prior authorization, Mulgrew has his fingerprints on. He told me personally Prior auths were “necessary” because doctors prescribe things the insurance company doesn’t think are needed. Ahem, when did for profit insurance companies who never examined you know better than your doctor?
But I digress… More on that later. Today’s post is to debunk more BS from the Unity Realm of fantasy and disinformation.
Below, please read a response I was asked to post by the Honorable Retired Assemblyman Richard Gottfried to the disinformation written by Michael Mendel on the NYHA. While I have not “pushed for it” as Mendel says, what I have done is work with the educated principals in trying to create something that would protect everyone, retirees included. When you share your knowledge with those who are creating, they can keep the issues you raise in mind when developing a better choice. I choose to be part of that solution, rather than part of the problem. In the four years since Mulgrew and his misguided “leaders” sought to privatize Medicare and force people into a predatory Medicare Advantage plan, they never had the foresight to develop a plan B. People Senator Rivera and Assy. Gottfried want to make all our lives better. Don’t succumb to the fearmongering. Listen. Ask questions. Learn. Just like you tell your students to….
That said, Mendels’s inaccurate statements need correction. I am happy to share the following from Retired Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, and author of the NYHA.
Unity Caucus Attack on the NY Health Act – Reply
By Richard Gottfried, retired NYS Assembly Member and author of the NY Health Act.
A recent Substack piece from the UFT Unity Caucus attacks the New York Health Act. I am not involved in the UFT election contest. But as the author of the NYHA, I want to reply, point by point:
“It might be better for many people in NY State but it’s not better for our retirees.”
The NYHA would be dramatically better for every New Yorker, including retirees. Much more comprehensive coverage than any existing plan, including any union plan. It includes long-term home care and nursing home care (especially important for retirees). Publicly-run and publicly-accountable, not run by a for-profit corporation. No deductibles, no co-pays, no restricted provider network or out-of-network charges, no restricted drug formulary, no prior approval for health care. The benefits would be guaranteed by state law. Secure, whether you change or lose a job, go on strike, or retire. Health care should and would be a human right – not something that has to be bargained for.
“If the New York Health Care Act passes, Traditional Medicare ends. PERIOD.”
Utterly false. Traditional Medicare would certainly continue. The bill guarantees no one would lose any right or benefit under Medicare. NY Health would wrap around Medicare (as my state employee retiree coverage does), or the federal government could agree to have NY Health administer Medicare in NY, consistent with all Medicare rights and benefits, within NYH. (In every state, Medicare is administered by one or more contractors.)
(When members of the NY City Council and the State Legislature have proposed bills to guarantee public employee retiree coverage for traditional Medicare and Medicare Supplemental coverage, the UFT has adamantly opposed that.)
“First, since nobody knows how much it would cost, the cost could be extremely high.”
In the current system, no one really knows what public employee or retiree health benefits will cost in the future, but it will undoubtedly be much higher than today. (NYC and its public employee unions have been increasingly struggling with the growing cost of the current system.)
Numerous professional analyses of national and state single-payer health programs (including the NYHA) have been done by leading consulting organizations and academics, including the Rand Corp. They almost unanimously document that the savings will far outweigh the increased costs.
In NY, savings of $60 billion a year will come from ending insurance corporation bureaucracy, marketing and profit; slashing what doctors, hospitals and other providers spend on administrative costs to fight with insurance corporations; and having the bargaining clout of 20 million “covered lives” to bring down drug prices. Increased costs (covering the uninsured, eliminating deductibles and co-pays, covering long-term care, increasing payment levels above what Medicare and Medicaid now pay, etc.) will be about $40 billion a year. That’s net savings of about $20 billion a year.
The NYHA would be funded by a progressively-graduated tax on income, based on ability to pay. This, plus the net savings, means over 90% of New Yorkers will spend less in NYHA taxes than they now spend on health care and coverage.
“The Act includes long term care. I wish everyone had long term care. But long term care costs thousands and thousands of dollars a year. Since nobody at this point knows how many people will need it nobody can possibly know the costs. Where will the money come from?”
Demographic trends and projections actually do enable reliable estimates of long-term care needs and costs. Numerous professional studies (see above) document that including long-term care is readily affordable under the NYHA. What is not affordable for is the current system.
“Second, does anyone think that doctors in NYS will take a pay cut if the pay scale is too low. For those of you who do not know what a Concierge doctor is, they charge between $2000-$3000 a year per person (not family), for the privilege of seeing them. They still charge the patient's insurance company for their service but you can’t see them if you don’t pay the thousands of dollars yearly to them. It’s happening all over Florida and I understand it’s starting to happen in NY as well. So if you had to pay $4,000 or more, doesn’t that sound similar to a premium. Isn’t that another issue that we and the opposition fought against? The patients of concierge doctors see specialists right away. Those who aren’t patients wait much longer to get appointments. Anyone think that wouldn’t happen if the NY Health Care Act passes? For those who rail against greedy private companies you should be railing against greedy doctors.”
Doctors and other providers will not suffer under the NYHA. They will save the billions of dollars and hours they now spend fighting with insurance companies. They will be paid more than now for Medicare and Medicaid services. The bill language on payment methodologies and rates was drafted in consultation with the state Medical Society. Health care providers will be able to collectively negotiate with NYH.
Under the current system there are doctors who charge “concierge” fees, even to public employee retirees.
The governor, members of the legislature, and their families will all be covered by NYH; they will have a strong interest in making sure it treats them and their health care providers as well as can be. The rest of us get to be part of that plan.
“State Senator Rivera said . . . he has no idea if doctors in Florida or other areas outside of NY will accept the plan.”
Under the current system, no one can make a doctor or hospital in Florida accept any health plan. We do know that NYH will pay them more fairly and with less hassle (e.g., no prior approval; no restricted network).
“They say the state and plan leaders have three years to work out the details. That’s putting the cart before the horse. Shouldn’t it be worked out before we support it.”
Any new program takes time to work out implementation details; that doesn't mean we don’t pass a law creating a program. (New York began free public schools about two hundred years ago, and we’re still working out the details.)
“(T)here will be a board to oversee the new plan. I think it was said the board would be made up of 31 people, 3 of which come from the unions. You know what that means? Having 3 out of 31 is almost meaningless.”
The bill sponsors have made it clear to organized labor that the number of board seats is readily negotiable.
There are other members of the board who would have common interests with union representatives, such as consumers.
For public employees, it is important that the bill guarantees that whatever percentage of the current health benefit premium the employer pays, it must pay at least that percentage of the NYHA payroll tax for the employees. And the bill says that any health benefit currently provided by any state or local public employer for any employee or retiree will be covered by the NYHA for every New Yorker.
“(I)f you were a young doctor just graduating medical school would you choose to come to NY or go to NJ, Pennsylvania, Connecticut or someone else where you could make much more money.”
A doctor would be wise to choose New York under the NYHA. No more unpaid bills. No more being underpaid by Medicare or Medicaid. No more spending time and money fighting with insurance company bureaucrats about whether your professional judgments and patient decisions will be respected. Some physician specialty societies have already recognized this; the NYS chapters of the pediatricians and family practice physicians endorse the NYHA.
The NYHA will largely eliminate the causes of physician “burn-out” that is causing widespread physician retirement and resulting shortages.
“(Supporters of the NYHA) may say that the DA passed resolutions supporting the NY Health Care Act previously. But was that the same act as the one presently proposed. The answer is no.”
What changes in the NYHA are referred to? Other than some technical language, the main changes in the bill in recent years have been the inclusion of long-term home care and nursing home care and the guarantees for public employee and retiree benefits and payment of the NYHA payroll tax. None of these changes have been objected to by the UFT or any other union.
“What happens if NYS has to raise fees because doctors aren’t making enough money or not enough doctors are willing to stay in NY? Where does the money come from?”
As noted above, the funding comes from a progressively-graduated tax based on ability to pay and billions of dollars in annual savings.
Under the current system, there is considerable turmoil about where the money will come from for New York City public employee and retiree health coverage.
“Socialized medicine might have a place in our country. It might be the answer to the terrible problems we have in providing proper medical care for all of our citizens. But it can only succeed at the national level. For those who say it has to start somewhere? Nonsense. It can’t work in one state or two. It can only work, if at all at the national level.”
It’s easy to say it can only work at the national level, but there’s no reason why that would be true. There is a long tradition in America of major programs beginning at the state level – especially in New York – and being advanced later nationally. Free public education, the abolition of slavery, expanding the right to vote, labor laws, civil rights laws, and many others began at the state level. New York created Child Health Plus and an elder prescription drug program before Washington acted.
Except for rare moments in history, New York’s politics and legislation have been much more progressive and worker- and consumer-friendly than Washington’s. We’ll be much better served by a universal health plan passed in New York.
Note, public health coverage like the NYHA, Medicare, Medicaid, or Child Health Plus is not “socialized medicine.”
Thank you Marianne
Bless you Marianne Pizzitola.
Dear union bothers and sisters, This is why Marianne is so trusted and loved. She sees knowledge as power -and her passion for what labor and people deserve is authentic. It’s how she’s built friendships and coalitions that enable her to keep a fierce pulse on the ground. It’s why A Better Contract loves and fully supports her, and why they never miss any chance to brainstorm with her!!