Defending Marianne and NYCOPSR

To the editor:

I’m sure Harry Weiner means well, but he has his facts wrong and shouldn’t be attacking Marianne Pizzitola, the President of The New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees (NYCOPSR) (See “The Claim Game”, Oct. 14).

The procedure for retirees to receive a refund for illegally charged co-pays in 2022 is a pain in the butt; no disagreement from me. But it is also unavoidable.

The defendants (the city and EmblemHealth) insisted on retirees having to show documentation that the co-pays were actually charged and paid since defendants’ own records cannot confirm that – and a court would have required the same should NYCOPSR have litigated the case through trial and appeal (a process that would have taken years).

Under this settlement agreement, retirees have two months to collect the necessary documentation -- receipts, credit card statements, bank statements, cancelled checks, doctors’ letters, etc. And if they need more time, they can mail in the claim form without attaching the documentation (they must circle “Yes” on each line indicating that they will be submitting proof of payment), and the settlement administrator (Atticus) will give them another month to “cure” – come up with that missing documentation.

And that is on top of the month that the administrator will take to notify them of the need to cure. So, in total, retirees have 4 months to obtain the required documentation.

Or the retiree can choose not to supply any documentation at all and still get a 40 percent refund up to $100 (an option that would not have been available at trial).

Is the process perfect or easy? No. But it was the result of lots of people trying to come up with a compromise that would work for everyone and avoid the delay and uncertainty of trial.

My bigger beef with Mr. Weiner is his ad hominem attacks on Marianne. They are just uncalled for.

I have been involved with retirees who were unhappy with the prospect of being forced into Medicare Advantage since I joined NYCOPSR in early 2022. Some groups were saying they were going to do something to stop the forced move.

No one did - except Marianne.  She made it happen.

And she made the process of organizing hundreds of thousands of retirees (during a pandemic) to take on City Hall look easy. It wasn’t.

Because of Marianne and the NYCOPSR (and their lawyers), retirees have had access to Traditional Medicare for the past five years and had no copays in 2023 and 2024.

So, instead of griping, may I suggest Mr. Weiner read Teddy Roosevelt’s famous “Man in the Arena” speech.  Stop carping and start helping.

Ellen S. Rieser, Esq.,

The author is a member of NYCOPSR and retired from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Office of the General Counsel.