CWA 1180 - News

PICA negotiations continue
March 2005

Facing mounting opposition to his threat to terminate the PICA drug program, New York City Labor Commissioner James Hanley has reversed course and is now negotiating with the Municipal Labor Committee over how to pay for the program that covers psychotropic, injectable, chemotherapy and asthma medications for some 300,000 municipal workers.

Due to increasing drug costs, the PICA program is draining the Stabilization Fund that pays for these covered medications. If the deficit is allowed to continue, municipal unions’ health plans will be threatened as the City tries to shift the entire PICA package back on to each union’s health and welfare plans.

While there has yet to be agreement on how to save PICA, consideration is being given to having the union plans take back part of the costs of the covered drugs. This will require increased contributions to the health and welfare funds and details have yet to be worked out as to where that money could come from.

Ultimately, the only solution to the ongoing crisis in health care is to secure a national health care program.

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