Separate fact from opinion

To the editor:

Last time I checked facts are facts and opinion are opinion. We have to learn how to separate the two. The Municipal Labor Committee, along with union leaders Michael Mulgrew, Henry Garrido, and now Richard Davis, are pushing their retirees into Medicare Advantage against their will. 

It is a fact that more members are retiring across the board and living longer. But members should not have to pay for the mismanagement of the system.

It is a fact that Medicare Advantage is not traditional Medicare. It is an opinion that it will save money for the city and unions, since the federal government has discovered over-billing and denials of care across the board. It is a fact that many hospital networks are opting out of Medicare Advantage networks nationwide.

It is my opinion that union members deserve the truth and not to be spun in circles. It is my opinion that the union should not blur the lines between being managers and doing the right thing for members. 

Unions work together to come up with solutions to complex problems not to take away rights or diminish any members rights.  It is a fact that those who are technically not part of the union and cannot vote in union elections or on union policy but were the ones that created the system and kept it running for years without taking away anyone’s rights deserve to have their input preserved.

Celso Garcia 

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