Mayor Eric Adams on Friday mentioned he was abandoning his years-long effort to maneuver retired metropolis staff onto higher-cost healthcare plans — regardless of scoring a significant authorized win within the controversial case earlier this week.
The mayor, who’s working as an unbiased within the November basic election, had been the one main candidate within the race backing Medicare Benefit, a personal plan that makes use of Medicare subsidies quite than the standard program supplied to retired metropolis staff.
However Adams flip-flopped on Friday, asserting in a press release that his sudden change of coronary heart stemmed from city halls and public occasions with retirees who mentioned they have been frightened concerning the change.
“We have informed union leadership that we are pursuing other avenues for improving health care for city workers that will provide even better outcomes, and we look forward to continuing to work with our partners on the best path forward,” he mentioned.
The mayor’s workplace didn’t make clear what different choices they have been contemplating at the moment.
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It got here simply two days after New York’s Courtroom of Appeals on Wednesday dominated in favor of the Adams administration, discovering the town may legally shift retirees to Medicare Benefit plans after years of preventing by advocacy teams.
Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa jumped on the mayor’s about-face, slamming it as a nakedly political transfer.
“Now, just days after the Court of Appeals ruled in his favor, and just as his reelection prospects dim, Eric Adams suddenly finds the backbone to stop his assault on our retirees,” Sliwa mentioned in a press release.
He claimed that Adams would break his promise and return to supporting the health-care plan if he was re-elected.
An Adams marketing campaign consultant didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Medicare Benefit was initially launched in 2021 by then-Mayor Invoice de Blasio, who argued that this system would save the town over $600 million a 12 months.
