Securing Healthcare Benefits for 250,000 NYC Retirees

For more than 40 years, New York City municipal retirees have relied on the promises made to them – codified into law – that they would receive a robust Medicare Supplemental health insurance plan in their retirement. When the DeBlasio administration reneged on that promise, an ad hoc group of retired police officers, fire fighters, and teachers hired us to fight City Hall.

We did; and we won six remarkable court victories that have already saved retirees some $2.1 billion.

In the summer of 2021, New York City tried to change the health benefits of 250,000 municipal retirees.

For more than 50 years these senior citizens and disabled first-responders had relied on the traditional Medicare-plus-Supplemental insurance that gave them access to their doctors and ensured their continuity of care. City Hall, however, wanted to strip them of these protections for a very simple reason: money.

If the City could force people into a (much inferior) Medicare Advantage plan, the City’s financial obligations would shift to the federal government. An ad hoc group of retirees came to Pollock Cohen to represent them. We did – and they won injunctive relief worth more than $2.1 billion.