Legislation to preserve retiree healthcare reintroduced Third push for bill
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Municipal retirees celebrated outside the gates of City Hall as a bill aiming to protect their Medicare coverage was reintroduced in the City Council.
Courtesy NYC Organization of Public Sector Retirees
Posted Monday, August 17, 2026 7:34 pm
BY HARPER FREEMAN
A bill that would preserve city retirees’ current healthcare benefits was reintroduced last week by City Council Member Christopher Marte hours after he rallied with a group of retired city workers outside City Hall. Similar legislation failed to progress through the City Council in 2025 and 2024, but the city’s 250,000 municipal retirees largely managed to stave off an effort backed by powerful city unions and previous mayoral administrations to change their Medicare plan to a privately-administered Medicare Advantage plan.
Since the effort fizzled out amid staunch retiree opposition, the New York City Organization of Public Sector Retirees has focused its attention on pushing the various iterations of Marte’s bill, though it is yet to receive strong support from lawmakers. The latest version, Intro 1008, doesn't explicitly mention Medicare Advantage but would prevent the city from diminishing retirees’ healthcare benefits, including through increased premiums, deductibles, coinsurance or copayments and privatization.
“Our retirees should not have to live with the constant threat that the healthcare they earned could disappear with the stroke of a pen,” Marte said in a statement. “After decades of service to this city, they deserve dignity and certainty. This legislation protects retirees from privatization, restrictive networks, prior authorizations, and new out-of-pocket costs. As we fight for universal healthcare for everyone, we must also defend the benefits workers have already earned.”
A representative for City Council Speaker Julie Menin declined to comment on Marte's bill. Currently the bill has the support of just four members of the City Council.
Previous versions of the legislation faced staunch opposition from the city's powerful public-sector unions who backed switching retirees to a Medicare Advantage plan for years.
Last year District Council 37, the largest union of public sector workers in the city, pulled back its support for members of the City Council who supported Marte’s bill, including by witholding financial support. That version of the legislation did not have the support of former City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who was endorsed to run in the Democratic primary for mayor by DC 37.
A similar effort put forward by former Council Member Charles Barron in 2024 was met with derision by the Municipal Labor Committee, the umbrella organization of municipal union. The MLC sanctioned the switch of retirees to the Medicare Advantage plan in 2023 and in October 2024 its then-chair sent a letter to Speaker Adams arguing the bill would curtail the rights of unions.
Representatives for DC 37 and the UFT did not respond to requests for comment.
NYCOPSR president Marianne Pizzitola said she has more hope for the bill this year than she did in the two previous. She's been heavily critical of the MLC and Mayor Zohran Mamdani who, she said, has declined to meet with the NYCOPSR since his tenure began.
A spokesperson for Mayor Zohran Mamdani did not respond to a request for comment.
But Pizzitola is hoping that under a new speaker and mayor, the third time may be the charm for the key legislation.
"I'm not giving up hope," she said.
Pizzitola added that she wants the MLC and the powerful unions that have stood in the way in previous years to keep away this time.
“I'm hoping that they stay in their lane and they respect the benefits that retired workers were promised,” she said.
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