Public Employee Press

Hundreds of jobs at stake
Members protest Medicaid changes

By. GREGORY N. HEIRES

Hundreds of members of Locals 371 and 1549 bussed to Albany Dec. 13 to warn Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Medicare Reform Team that their plan could kill jobs and cripple services for the elderly and disabled.

Under the plan, the state would take over Medicaid services provided to 2.9 million New Yorkers and privatize long-term care for seniors, including transferring many from community-based home care to managed-care programs run by private insurers and pushing some into nursing homes.

Clerical-Administrative Employees Local 1549 members carried out a "silent protest," occupying most of the seats in the room where the panel met. As the meeting got underway, SSEU Local 371 activists in black baseball hats and T-shirts poured into the room, many carrying protest signs.

As the MRT - a panel of health-care experts appointed by Cuomo to design the plan for $2.3 billion in cuts - rubber-stamped the recommendations, the union pressed successfully for Local 371 President Anthony Wells and Local 1549 President Eddie Rodriguez to address the session.

"The plan should not be implemented in its present form," said Wells. "Privatizing these services won't save money or improve services." (See page 22.)

"We are here today because our members care," Rodriguez said. Clients "need to see a live body" when they enroll, rather than being forced to use a computer or call center.

The changes threaten the jobs of thousands of DC 37 members. Together, Local 371 caseworkers and Local 1549 Eligibility Specialists handle 36,000 home-care cases. The privatization plan for the Human Resources Administration would affect 1,500 Local 1549 Eligibility Specialists and 700 Local 371 members in the Community Alternative Systems Administration. CASA has already shifted 4,000 cases to managed care. (The 700 Local 371 members continue to work for CASA; PEP erroneously reported in its last issue that they were transferred.)

Besides privatizing services, the plan aims to cut costs by reducing benefits and promoting preventive care to keep patients out of emergency rooms.

Local 1549 activist Tyeesha McDonald, an Eligibility Specialist, faults the panel for not reaching out to the workers who provide services for seniors. In an interview with PEP, she expressed her concern about the impersonal service clients will receive if they have to use kiosks for enrollment. Automated enrollment will be a particular burden for clients whose principal language isn't English, she said.

"Home-care service prevents clients from being placed in nursing homes, which cost much more," Caseworker Joseph DiGirolomo said.

"We realize there are fiscal constraints on the national, state and city levels," Local 371 Executive Vice President Yolanda Pumarejo said. "But they should not address budget shortfalls by cutting services for the city's most vulnerable people. Who is going to oversee the transfer of public monies to private agencies? It's like the fox guarding the henhouse."

"Our strong turnout showed that we meant business," said Local 1549 2nd Vice President Ralph Palladino.

"This process is moving very quickly, with HRA planning to turn over 2,000 cases a month to managed care," said Sr. Assistant Director Moira Dolan of the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept. "We are deeply concerned about the impact of the shift on our members and the elderly."

As a result of the Albany protest, Wells and DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts met with state Medicaid Director Jason Helgerson to discuss the union's concerns about the privatization of the CASA program.