CWA 1180 - Political Action

City retirees win permanent full reimbursement for Medicare Part B
April 2002

In March, city retirees won a long-sought goal when Mayor Bloomberg announced that he was dropping the city's lawsuit challenging last year's City Council law providing permanent full Medicare Part B reimbursement. The suit was filed by the litigious and worker-hostile Rudy Giuliani (of course) and in dropping his predecessor's legal challenge Bloomberg cleared the way for full reimbursement to finally happen.

"This has been a long fight," said Retired Members Club President Adele Rogers. Local 1180 retirees worked for years on the Medicare Part B issue. They testified before the City Council, wrote letters, attended rallies, traveled to Albany to lobby, and joined with other retiree organizations in pushing their cause.

In 1967 when the city first forced city retirees to sign up for Medicare, Mayor Lindsay promised that the city would cover the entire cost of the premium. But in the late 80s, Mayor Koch began making retirees pick up some of the tab to close budget gaps. Since that time, retirees have had to go to the City Council in order to win increases in the partial reimbursement to keep pace with rising premiums. Last year, the council finally passed a bill reinstating full reimbursement.

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