New York Court of Appeals hands Medicare win to retired NYC employees

December 17, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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CITYWIDE — THE NEW YORK COURT OF APPEALS, the state’s highest court, issued on Tuesday a unanimous decision in favor of 250,000 Medicare-eligible retired NYC workers and their dependents. The court ruled that the city must continue to pay the entire cost of any health insurance plan retirees select, thus preserving their right to city-funded Medicare supplemental insurance.

In 2021, the city announced that it would stop paying for retirees’ Medicare supplemental insurance and automatically switch them into federally-funded Medicare Advantage. Unlike Medicare supplemental insurance, the Advantage plans limit access to doctors and hospitals and often deny coverage for care deemed necessary by physicians. Marianne Pizzitola and the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees sued to protect the retirees’ Medicare supplemental insurance.

“Because of today’s decision, countless senior citizens and disabled first responders will be able to continue receiving the medical care they desperately need and to which they are entitled,” said Jake Gardener, a partner at Walden Macht Haran & Williams LLP, counsel to the retirees.

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