Support Our Medicare at Bronx CBs: Sept. 26-28, 2023

Not everyone can travel to City Hall to support city retirees fight to keep traditional Medicare, but there is still local work to be done. Here is a report about what Bronx retirees are doing in their Community Boards to further the struggle against privatized Medicare managed care.

By Aurea A. Mangual, Assoc. VP, Inter-Union Relations

Some Bronx retirees who can’t travel by subway downtown joined former Council member Margarita Lopez at the Bronx Community Board 6 meeting on September 12.

We spoke at the Public Session and briefly explained our opposition to the agenda of the Mayor, the Office of Labor Relations, and the Municipal Labor Committee in their quest to destroy traditional Medicare health benefits. We were well received by everyone, who supported our retiree activists in this serious and crucial life-and death situation.

We were invited to speak at next month's Health and Human Services Committee and, if possible, we plan to attend. The following is the schedule of the Bronx CBs General Board Meetings, at which we are on the agenda to speak for three minutes: 

• Bronx CB 4 on Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 6pm at the Bronx Museum of the Arts located at 1040 Grand Concourse and East 165th Street.

• Bronx CB 2 on Wednesday, Sept. 27, at 6 pm at the Urban Health Center (entering through the Simpson Street entrance).

• Bronx CB 1 on Thursday, Sept. 28, at 6 pm at Lincoln Hospital (entering on Morris Avenue).

We are expecting former Council member Margarita Lopez to attend, as well as other retiree who can't attend downtown rallies. If you live in the Bronx, we are counting on your support and participation in this series of scheduled meetings, which we know are in the best interest of us all!

Community Board members are appointed by their district's Council Members, and some of the appointees are labor retirees. Therefore, the goal is to ask them to support Intro 1099 – and the hope is that most will do just that, since Council Members count on retirees for their votes and for their role as Election Day workers in their districts.