What: Joseph M. Petty asked the City Manager for a report on the impact of individual Medicare insurance plans being eliminated and on transition plans for residents.
Where it stands: adopted as amended 2026-10-06.
Next: the report is pending.
Petty's concerns (per captions)
UMass Advantage and Blue Cross Blue Shield are dropping plans (Blue Cross four of six).
Roughly 25,000 people in Worcester County are affected, perhaps 3,000 to 5,000 in the city; these are individual rather than city retiree plans.
He met that day with a coalition including the community engagement team of Health Care For All Massachusetts, which asked for a meeting with the congressional and state delegations.
Federal Medicare and Medicaid cuts expected from January will worsen the confusion.
The city communicated heavily during COVID and should do so again.
Amendment
Khrystian E. King, a frontline social worker, amended the order to include the city's plan for unhoused and unsheltered residents, including the roughly 60 identified as chronically homeless.
Log
2026-10-06 - City Council — Order adopted as amended with King's homelessness addition. Idella Hazard, Abby Mortillaro and others spoke in favor in public participation.