UFT Welfare Fund Under Attack: Unmasking the Falsehoods and Unity Caucus’s fight to Defend our Healthcare

The following post was written by Geof Sorkin who serves as the Executive Director of the UFT Welfare Fund. In the following post Geof is writing on his own behalf.

Falsehoods and fear mongering:

If you happened to read The Wire: Educators of New York City piece in the early afternoon on September 17th you would’ve thought that you were reading a scoop on some fast-breaking news and that UFT President Michael Mulgrew was going to announce multiple health benefit enhancements during his town hall later that evening.

If you listened to the town hall, that was not the case. The article was entirely inaccurate and sensationalized. Enhancing health benefits is a comprehensive process that cannot be handled whimsically. The author(s) of that piece fail to grasp this. That seems to be a continuous trend throughout that blog, it sounds good, but it lacks substance.

Over the last year, that site has coordinated with others to attack our Welfare Fund. The false allegations have been relentlessly suggesting we are doing something nefarious. It has been nothing more than a campaign to scare our members using catchy verbiage that lacks proof.

Also, last year we heard them repeatedly call for the dissolution of the Welfare Fund in which every employee should be made a case worker. That strategy fails to account for the real work the Fund does daily to help all UFT members. In reprehensible fashion, it also disregards the impact on the 100+ Fund employees. It is dismissive of their dedication, commitment, and life experiences; we employ licensed pharmacists, social workers, certified benefit specialists, credentialed technology employees, and a unit of employees represented by another union. It is shameful to suggest they are all “cogs” (seems like a move out of former Mayor Bloomberg’s playbook). How can you call yourself pro-labor when you dismiss the collective bargaining unit of another union?

They could say they didn’t know these facts, but again, they created these stories without any due diligence. It’s a pattern! I would suggest they should have investigated before they decided to run with these myths. This continued gaslighting comes at the sanctity of our union and at their misconception of the intelligence of our members.

Examining the piece further, we must ask who are Educators of NYC? Is this really a substantial group of people that represent a wide range of interests or is this merely one person pushing his agenda?  Would the blog be better known as Educator of NYC? Isn’t it Daniel Alicia authoring this piece? Why make it seem anonymous? If there even are multiple “educators” are they even all New York City based?

Our teeth matter! Our fight to preserve and advance our dental care

We’ve heard from our members about dental and other benefit enhancements and we are working diligently on them. As President Mulgrew said at the town hall, a dental RFP [Request for Proposal - An RFP is a tool to enhance benefits and/or lower costs in negotiations with prospective insurers] is in process. Contrary to what is presented in that blog piece, we are always looking to make enhancements. We have done so over the last several years and we have been exploring enhancements with dental and other benefits since late 2023.

The forces that would strip our protections to save money, never take a break. We are surrounded by entities with ill intent and fancy catchphrases that look at us as dollar signs. Those entities should never be underestimated.

There is an extreme amount of due diligence that must happen regarding benefit enhancements to protect our members and our Welfare Fund. As the organization that provides these benefits, it is a fiduciary responsibility that is taken with the strictest seriousness.

Maintaining a healthy reserve level ensures that the Fund will continue to be able to provide benefits well into the future. It is perplexing that some have chosen to criticize our excellent financial standing.

An idea may sound good on paper or as a catchphrase, but everything has to be measured. Claims utilization data must be analyzed to reveal potential cost and exposure. Experts must be called in so that they can apply their knowledge and look at things with a different lens. Legal counsel must be utilized to make sure ideas are aligned with the ever-changing legislation and regulations coming out of the city, the state, and the federal government. Things must be done in a measured deliberate fashion.

False promises and weaponizing our Delegate Assembly

Back in April, a small group tried to pass a Delegate Assembly resolution that would increase our Welfare Fund’s dental reimbursements by 75%, with the caveat that it needed to be done in 8 months. On its surface, it sounded good (that was intentional), but it shows a fundamental lack of understanding about benefits and is ultimately dangerous. With hindsight, it was as savvy a move naming a caucus “Fix Para Pay” (everyone is for increasing Para pay!) intentionally and presumptuously designed to prey on people thinking they are gullible. Similarly, it was devoid of any real substance. When we hear things like that, we should all ask how are you planning on doing that?

Dental is our Welfare Fund’s second biggest expense right after our in-service prescription drug coverage. The amount we spend annually on those two benefits is extremely close. The trustees of the UFT Welfare Fund have always correctly prioritized our prescription drug benefit, as it is a lifesaving benefit. To suggest that we increase our dental spending by 75% would easily thrust it into our number one expense. That should make you nervous.

How does one suggest a 75% increase on spending without examining any claims data? Trying to force it through without having any data is irresponsible. We are educators, where’s the homework? To not know what that actually means in real money is shooting from the hip. Long term, it could hurt our fiscal integrity and impact what benefits we can sustain into the future. It was an irresponsible move.

That leads to my bigger concern, prescription drug coverage. If dental became our biggest expense, I can see a situation in which funding could be an issue and we would have to limit some prescription drug coverage. We NEVER want to have to do that. Right now the UFT Welfare Fund has an extraordinarily robust prescription drug formulary. We provide coverage for drugs that no other Welfare Fund in the city will touch. We never want to put ourselves in a position that adversely affects our drug coverage. What it comes down to is that proposing this resolution was not leadership, it was a haphazard move that sounded good. Again, there’s a pattern here!

The same small group of vocal critics routinely criticize the UFT Welfare Fund with claims they experienced situations in which our Fund denied drugs. Those stories are untrue.  Healthcare is complicated and that particularly holds true in New York City. Some prescription drug coverage falls under other entities, such as for injectable medication, chemotherapy medication, diabetic medication, and other drugs mandated by either New York State or the federal government. Instead of putting effort into spreading falsehoods, if they contacted our pharmacy department, we would’ve assisted them with accurate information to help them get their medication.

Leadership and Integrity: Why Unity’s Approach to Health Benefits Matters

Be wary of catchphrases and talking points without substance. That’s not leadership! The same small group regularly uses the word “strike” in careless fashion without a real grasp of how it would impact our members. They suggest the NYS Health Act is the answer to all of our healthcare needs, but fail to acknowledge the cost and that it removes us from having a seat at the table of what will be a newly created unfettered bureaucracy. Be skeptical!

As the UFT election nears, please remember that having a real plan, from beginning to end, is a vital leadership strategy. Catch phrases are fun, but without substance, they fail. Beware of the sensationalism you will continue to hear from them! Mandating benefit enhancements without even remotely suggesting a serious game plan is bound to either fail, waste money, or significantly hurt our ability to provide. That is not real leadership! Things may sound great, but there could be real consequences when there isn’t a meaningful strategy. I value integrity, diligence, and substance; come the Spring and UFT elections, I’m casting a vote for Michael Mulgrew.  He is a proven leader that understands healthcare.