Addabbo's Reaction To Governor's Veto Of Bill Requiring State To Maintain ...
(Queens, NY) — NYS Senator Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr. (D-Queens), a member of the Senate’s Racing, Gaming & Wagering Committee, released the following statement reacting to Governor Cuomo’s recent veto of bill S.4489 that passed the legislature in June, requiring the state to maintain the health insurance and supplemental benefits received by retirees of the New York City Off-Track Betting Corporation (NYC OTB). Under the proposed measure, the state would reimburse the City or its designee for the actual cost of benefits. Former employees received supplemental benefits such as prescription drugs, optical and dental insurance through welfare fund benefit plans funded through employer contributions. When benefits ceased to exist with the closure of NYC OTB in December 2010, retirees were left to determine which prior benefits they could attain without employer contributions.
The Senator stated at the time, “it was illogical how benefits ceased to exist with plans in place to continue funding of benefits for retirees,” and Addabbo further noted that “the state broke its promise,” one of many reasons for why he voted in favor of S.4489 and sought its passage. It came through both houses of the legislature in June, and had waited for the governor’s signature until September 23, when Cuomo vetoed it. According to the Senator and the unions, Senate bill S.4489 and Assembly bill A.5785 address and satisfy the constitutionality and cost issues of health and supplemental benefits funding.
According to Addabbo, “I had written an August 10 letter to the Governor stating that I would be prepared to make additional appropriate budget cuts in spending or seek to further eliminate wasteful allocations in order to absorb the cost of S4489/A5785. I stand with the union members of DC 37 Local 2021 and Teamsters Local 858, who speak for the NYC OTB retirees now in crisis, who cannot continue monthly (COBRA) premiums, which exceed their monthly pension income. Many of the 900 retirees, unwell and aging but who do not satisfy Medicare age requirements, are in the hospital and under unmanageable stress over how to pay their medical bills. Ineligible to enroll in Medicare, retirees have considered enrolling in Medicaid, only to be told that the average OTB retiree monthly income is slightly higher than the 2011 Medicaid monthly income guideline of $1,410.83 for a family of two. Once again, those retirees were ineligible for Medicaid. So today, these NYC OTB retirees are lying in hospital beds uninsured, through no fault of their own.
Health Insurance New York Cobra Law - News
The subsidy can be used to offset the cost of health insurance programs, such as COBRA continuation coverage. The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provision expanded the situations in which the tax credit would be available to include those
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to Governor Cuomo's recent veto of bill S.4489 that passed the legislature in June, requiring the state to maintain the health insurance and supplemental benefits received by retirees of the New York City Off-Track Betting Corporation (NYC OTB).
Laid Off, Need Health Insurance? |
Introduction
If becoming unemployed isn’t bad enough, you also just lost your employer sponsored health insurance. While nothing I can suggest will make this bad situation into happy times, ideas for coping with the resulting health insurance problem can help. The choice of health insurance needs to be made quickly to retain your important health insurance protection. Are you going to bite the high cost of COBRA or strike out on your own health insurance plan? Not enough money for COBRA? What are there other choices?
To COBRA or Not to COBRA
If you were employed by a company that was large enough to be COBRA qualified, then you can keep your current health insurance but it will be a painfully high price. Your recent employer is required by this Federal Law to send you notice of eligibility. You have 63 days to either choose COBRA or not and then it’s off the table. You can then keep a COBRA health insurance plan for up to 18 months.
The hard part of COBRA is that the cost can be out of reach particularly since your paycheck just got eliminated. If you have substantial ongoing medical costs or pre-existing conditions, this will provide an essential bridge to your future group coverage and is the only safe route to go. A COBRA health insurance plan is “HIPAA” qualified and will not exclude your pre-existing health conditions. Also, when you are hired and can join a new employer based group plan, the HIPAA rule will apply and your new group plan will count your time on a COBRA plan as “Creditable Coverage.”
Note: COBRA coverage is dependent on the prior employer’s group plan. If the company is out-of-business or ends their group health benefit, you will lose your COBRA benefit.
State Continuation
Texas and some other states have a mandated health benefit continuation. This can help if your employer is too small for COBRA (less than 20 employees). Generally it is a much shorter benefit period (Texas is 6 month) but it is worth asking about if no COBRA health insurance benefit is available. Like the COBRA option, paying the whole price is the downside.