The Adams administration has dropped its effort to implement a Medicare Advantage health care plan for the city’s roughly 250,000 Medicare-eligible retirees.

Mayor Eric Adams announced on June 20 that his administration did not intend to move forward with the switch, which has long been tied up in the courts. The reversal came less than a week after the state’s highest court gave the green light to the city to pursue such a plan.

The mayor’s decision also came after the UFT reacted to the state Court of Appeals ruling by declaring that it would seek to block Adams from implementing the Medicare Advantage Plan if he tried to pursue it.

“We stand in full opposition to anything that seeks to undermine our traditional Medicare,” said UFT President Michael Mulgrew.

The UFT withdrew its support for the city’s proposed Medicare Advantage plan in June 2024 when it became apparent that the Adams administration was more interested in cutting its costs than working with the union to provide high-quality health care to city workers and retirees. Mulgrew told the city and the Municipal Labor Committee — the umbrella organization for all municipal unions that is responsible for bargaining health benefits — that the union would not engage in any negotiations on a Medicare Advantage plan going forward and would push for a new strategy.

At the national convention of the American Federation of Teachers that July, Mulgrew motivated a resolution to seek federal legislation to protect Medicare and expand Social Security benefits for seniors — and to ensure that these benefits would never be diminished.

In accordance with a resolution passed by the UFT Delegate Assembly in December 2024, any significant changes to health care benefits for members, either in service or retired, must be submitted to the Delegate Assembly for approval.

— Deidre McFadyen