Unanimously, the City Council votes for full reimbursement of Medicare Part B premiums.

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

The City Council voted 48-0 on April 25 to provide retired municipal employees with full reimbursement of their payments for Medicare Part B.
The vote followed months of lobbying by DC 37 and its Retirees Association to convince legislators to fulfill the city’s commitment of nearly four decades ago to finance full coverage.

The campaign included a rally March 23 at the union, where hundreds of retirees and activists heard City Council leaders pledge to support full reimbursement.

As Speaker Peter F. Vallone made his way to the ?podium, participants at the rally waved signs with the letter “B” and chanted “Medicare Part B.”

“We will pass the bill and we will pass it this year,” said Mr. Vallone to loud applause. The proposal was introduced by City Council member Mary Pinkett.

After the federal government established Medicare four decades ago, the city agreed to reimburse retired ?employees for the Part B premium. But in the 1980s, the Koch administration reneged on that pledge. Retirees now pay about $200 a year for the benefit, which covers ?prescription drugs and other medical items.

Union leaders characterized the campaign as a struggle for economic justice and dignity. Over the past few months, members and retirees deluged the City Council with phone calls and post cards calling for full and permanent reimbursement.

“Retirees deserve Medicare Part B and they are going to get it,” Administrator Lee Saunders said.

A promise kept
“Our members have put their heart and soul into their work and they deserve full reimbursement,” said Alma C. Osborne, president of the Retirees Association of DC 37.

“Retirees spend half of their income on housing,” said DC 37 Deputy Administrator Eliot Seide. “The vote on Medicare Part B will affect whether many of them will be able to afford both prescription drugs and a good diet.”

“Thirty-two years ago a promise was made to the ?retirees of New York, a promise to fully reimburse them for Medicare Part B,” DC 37 Deputy Administrator Zachary Ramsey said. “That promise wasn’t kept.”

With its April 25 vote, the City Council agreed to make the city keep that promise.