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Health insurance giant Empire pulls out of NYC’s controversial Medicare plan for retired city workers
A major insurance company has pulled out of a deal to administer New York City’s new Medicare Advantage Plan — the latest setback in the city’s effort to shift roughly 250,000 retired municipal workers onto the controversial health coverage.
Empire BlueCross BlueShield, one of the country’s largest health insurance providers, notified Mayor Adams’ office that it’s not going to help roll out the Advantage plan after the city failed to provide a start date and benefit specifics as requested by July 15, the company said in a statement Tuesday.
“This timeline was important because delaying any further would not give retirees enough time to fully understand their options, benefits, and coverage in advance of open enrollment,” the statement read. “Given the level of uncertainty at this time, we informed the city that (Empire) is not able to participate.”
In light of Empire’s withdrawal, City Hall spokesman Jonah Allon said
