Retiring state 25th District Rep. John Kowalko and New Castle County 5th District Councilwoman Lisa Diller, a state of Delaware retiree, are teaming up to form RiseDelaware (Retirees Investing in State Equity Delaware), a new membership organization that will advocate for pension benefits and oppose Medicare Advantage plans.
The group plans to fight the proposed State of Delaware Medicare Advantage plan that is slated to be implemented on January 1, 2023.
“This is a disgrace on the part of the State of Delaware!” said Kowalko. “There are about 30,000 retirees and dependents affected. These retirees paid into the system and now the rug is being pulled out from under them. They are being told that nothing is going to change with their plan. How can anyone say this with a straight face? The State of Delaware is trying to balance this long-underfunded benefits deficit, one that officials have known about for years, on the backs of their retirees at the same time proposing an expansion to Legislative Hall and a parking garage.”
Plan supporters say Delaware Medicare Advantage plan is accepted by most physicians in the state and does not come with the problems cited by Kowalko and Diller.
Advocates also noted that Medicare Advantage plans also offers services such as home visitsthat can detect problems that can be treated and can minimize expensive hospital stays. Denials typically take place on procedures that are not deemed to be necessary.
Diller stated, “Retirees have been told that if a doctor takes original Medicare in the current plan, the doctor should also take Medicare Advantage (NA). We have been in contact with the New York City (NYC) retirees who fought and won a lawsuit against the implementation of a Medicare Advantage Plan. Hundreds of NYC doctors opted out of the NYC MA plan, which if implemented, would have left the NYC retirees scrambling to find new doctors at a time when many of them were frail and ill.”
The Delaware House and Senate approved the plan, in the budget as a budget line item, without a single presentation.
Kowalko added that “State legislators could demand that this contract be put on hold and investigate the matter. They need to do their own research and not to trust canned email responses crafted by the administration for their constituents.”
