By Carl Campanile
Posted: December 5, 2014
NY Post
The union representing the city’s correction officers has quietly filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court, claiming ObamaCare will bankrupt its health-care fund, The Post has learned.
The Correction Officers Benevolent Association maintains a supplemental medical fund for members that sets a $10,000 annual cap per family on prescription-drug benefits. The fund also provides optical and dental benefits.
But the new federal heath-care law bars the union from imposing annual limits on drug purchases — in essence, making the Affordable Care Act unaffordable, the lawsuit alleges.
“ObamaCare will bankrupt us,” said COBA President Norman Seabrook.
The lawsuit, which lists President Obama and other federal officials as defendants, said the lifting of the cap has resulted in “skyrocketing costs.”
The union estimated that two dozen members exceeded the previously imposed $10,000 cap and two participants were running up prescription bills of more than $50,000 each.
The union said in the June suit that the cap — coupled with 30 percent co-payments and mandatory use of generic drugs — was put in place to control costs and keep the fund solvent.
The city is the main source of funding — kicking in $1,780 per member.
COBA complained that its petition to the Obama administration seeking an exemption “fell on deaf ears” — hence, the lawsuit.
The suit, before Judge Shira Scheindlin, claims ObamaCare is anti-union and unconstitutional.
“The regulators’ refusal to grant the requested exemption violates the equal-protection and free-association rights of union members and their dependents,” COBA lawyer Howard Wien claimed.
“The only reason they are threatened with the loss of their prescription-drug coverage is their association with a labor union and one another.”
The COBA suit said the health-law edict leaves difficult choices: shut down the fund, severely limit benefits — or put all its money into saving the fund at the expense of officers’ wages and retirement benefits.
COBA appears to have gotten the attention of Obama health officials.
In a Nov. 21 court filing, the federal defendants requested a four-month stay to examine whether they can exempt COBA from the cost rule and potentially settle the case.
“The administrative-assessment process might ultimately obviate the need for this litigation to continue,” said Assistant Manhattan US Attorney Rebecca Tinio, responding on behalf of the administration.