Lawmakers Seek To Restore Health Benefits For OTB Retirees
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Retirees of the now out-of-business city Off Track Betting Corporation say the state is gambling with their health and their lives. NY1's Rocco Vertuccio filed the following report. For 66-year-old Paul Gropper, one of the best things about being retired is getting to stay by the shore in Rockaway Park, Queens. But lately, his retirement has been anything but a day at the beach.
Gropper is one of about 900 retirees from the now-defunct New York City Off-Track Betting Corporation who recently lost their health benefits.
The city had paid their premiums and was reimbursed by the OTB Corporation, but the payments stopped when the operation went out of business last year and the city and the state denied any responsibility.
After court cases and restraining orders, the retirees lost what they said they were always promised over decades of investing in the system.
"You work for the city for the benefits, you could have worked for private industry, but you say okay, now you retired, you're 60, you're 65," said Gropper, who worked for OTB for 32 years. "It's very, very, very, very sad."
Their unions say many of the retirees have health problems but have trouble paying hundreds of dollars a month for their own insurance. Some are not eligible for Medicaid or Medicare.
"In many instances, our people are paying 25 percent of their pension to cover their health benefits and this is money they didn't expect to have to spend," said Barry Yomtov of Teamsters Local Union 858.
State lawmakers recently approved a bill that would have allowed the city to resume paying for the premiums and get reimbursed by the state, but Governor Andrew Cuomo vetoed it.
The governor's office acknowledged to NY1 the retirees are entitled to the benefits. Cuomo said he vetoed the bill because it was flawed, since it did not include a way for the state to pay for the $7 million a year it would cost to cover the benefits.
Queens Senator Joseph Addabbo said lawmakers will rework the bill before the end of the year, and they aim to send it back to the governor in January.
"We know now what we have to do when we go back to work in Albany. We now know what we as legislators have to do for these retirees," Addabbo said.
For retirees, time is more than money.
"We want to just get what's right for us and get our benefits back," said Gropper.