Following the lead of several other mayoral candidates, Andrew Cuomo is pledging he would if elected kill the Adams administration’s stalled effort to move New York City’s 250,000 municipal retirees into a privatized Medicare plan that many fear would dilute their health insurance.
Since taking office in early 2022, Mayor Adams has pressed to make an Advantage plan managed by a private insurance company the only health care option for the city’s tens of thousands of retired municipal workers, including cops, firefighters and teachers. That marked a significant shift from the status quo, in which the city offers its retirees traditional Medicare with city-subsidized supplements.
Adams’ team — as well as leaders of some key municipal unions — have argued the Advantage plan would improve care and also save the city hundreds of millions of dollars every year in health insurance spending.
But a grassroots group of city retirees have blocked the plan in court, arguing it violates city administrative law and would deprive them of a critical benefit for public servants. Cuomo is aligning himself with that position.
“I will protect retirees and pledge to not push retirees into a Medicare Advantage plan,” the ex-governor wrote in an April 14 letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Daily News, to the group, the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees.
Cuomo, who’s polling as the favorite to win June’s Democratic mayoral primary, made the commitment after several of his opponents in the race for City Hall, including Brad Lander, Scott Stringer, Jessica Ramos and Jim Walden, already vowed to derail Adams’ Advantage plan.
Cuomo’s olive branch to the retirees comes as he has faced renewed criticism over some of his gubernatorial record on labor issues.
Last week, DC 37, the city’s largest municipal union, bucked a trend of organized labor groups lining up behind Cuomo’s bid for City Hall, instead endorsing City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams for mayor. The union’s head told reporters a major reason why he opted against backing Cuomo was because he as governor raised the state’s retirement age for public servants and slashed some of their retiree benefits.
Also in his April 14 letter to the retiree group, Cuomo wrote he would as mayor “abide by the permanent injunction issued by Judge Frank.”
In August 2023, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lyle Frank issued a permanent injunction barring the city from forcing retirees into an Advantage plan without offering them a traditional Medicare option. The retiree group has long argued Advantage plans result in worse health care coverage, pointing to federal studies showing they sometimes deny or delay “medically necessary” care due to the privatized nature of how they’re administered.
Adams’ administration appealed Frank’s ruling, but several more judges have since upheld his decision. The administration is now awaiting a decision from New York’s highest court, expected this year, that’s likely to make a final call.
Shawn Inglima/New York Daily News
Mayor Eric Adams attends a mass in honor of Pope Francis at St. Patrick’s Cathedral last week. (Shawn Inglima/New York Daily News)
Spokesmen for Adams didn’t immediately return requests for comment Monday.
Adams won’t go head-to-head in an election with Cuomo for at least several more months as he has dropped out of June’s Democratic mayoral primary in favor of running for reelection as an independent in November’s general election, a move he made amid fallout from the controversial dismissal of his corruption indictment.
Cuomo, who resigned as governor amid sexual harassment accusations he denies, got a tepid response to his April 14 letter from Marianne Pizzitola, a former FDNY EMS who leads the retiree group. She noted Cuomo “is the latest in a long list of mayoral candidates” to come out against Adams’ Advantage push and added: “If he is elected mayor, we hope he doesn’t pull an Eric Adams, who falsely claimed he would protect retirees’ health care when he ran for office four years ago.”
Pizzitola was referencing how Adams on the 2021 mayoral campaign trail said he was “deeply troubled” by the city’s Advantage plan, which was first introduced by ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio that year. Upon taking office, Adams moved to enact the plan.
Originally Published: April 28, 2025 at 11:01 AM EDT
