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mowotlarx OP t1_j6ipye4 wrote

Reply to comment by story_island in Mayor Adams plows ahead with plan to privatize health benefits for 250,000 NYC municipal retirees by mowotlarx

So how are the retirees on a fixed income who were promised these benefits supposed to absorb it? For perspective, this would only save $500 million a year. That is less than 2/3 of what we spent on NYPD overtime alone in 2022. There are ways we could save this money, but it's much easier to fuck over retirees I guess.

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DrRat t1_j6j1avr wrote

Advantage plans are notorious for denying anything they can get away with and really making the customer jump through hoops. Private Health insurance companies have stock holders to please whereas government-funded Medicare only loyalty lies with the enrollee. It'll be an instant and noticeable decrease in benefits and services, I'm afraid.

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mowotlarx OP t1_j6j2jb9 wrote

The irony is it costs way more to make people access services only in an emergency rather than allowing people access to affordable preventative medicine. The decline in benefits costs us all more in the long run.

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BourdainTiffin t1_j6j8i9e wrote

The retirees will not have increased costs.

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mowotlarx OP t1_j6jc2rl wrote

Yes, they will. They will pay for more out of pocket because less will be covered. They will have fewer options for local doctors, meaning many may need to go out of network for specialty care. Medicare Advantage isn't Medicare, it's a private insurance company chosen because they intend to nickel and dime aging retirees who require more healthcare.

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