Release #117-99

Contact: Sunny Mindel/Samantha Lugo (212) 788-2958

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani today announced that an agreement has been reached with the Municipal Labor Committee to improve the health benefits of City employees and retirees, at no additional cost to the City or to the beneficiaries.

" We are extremely pleased to provide these benefits to our employees at no additional cost to them, their families or the City of New York. This shows the success of our collective bargaining and our commitment to providing our employees with a better health insurance benefits package," Mayor Giuliani said.

The Municipal Labor Committee, which is responsible for negotiating health insurance benefits with the City of New York on behalf of City employees, enumerated the additional benefits to be provided to current City employees and under 65 non-Medicare retirees in the GHI-CBP/Blue Cross plan as follows:

• A reduction in the deductible from $3,000 to $1,500 for catastrophic coverage.
• An increase in the reimbursement schedule to GHI participating providers for maternity services.
• An increase in the lifetime maximum to $2 million in covered expenses and the elimination of the annual maximum, except for private duty nursing.
• Hospital, medical and mental health coverage under the basic plan for full time students, currently covered only through an optional rider. This benefit improvement will save employees up to $8.77 a month for coverage.
• The elimination of the $240 hospital deductible for nursery room care.