Mayor Eric Adams scored a massive legal win in the controversial battle to move retired city workers to higher cost health-care plans — but nearly all the candidates running to replace him as mayor are already planning to stop the move in its tracks.
The Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the city could shift retirees to Medicare Advantage plans – a private healthcare program that utilizes Medicare subsidies in lieu of traditional Medicare and supplements – after years of fighting by retiree advocacy groups.
The ruling found that retirees who sued over the change had insufficiently argued that adopting the advantage plans would lead to worsened care and that assurances that the city would keep them on Medicare plans wasn’t legally enforceable.
Adams’ term is up at year’s end and he dropped out of a Democratic Party primary that is set for next week.