By Claudia Irizarry Aponte and Katie Honan | Photo credit: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY

In a blow to retirees, the state Court of Appeals overruled lower court decisions that had barred the city from moving its quarter-million retirees to a privatized health care plan.

The state’s highest court has overruled a state Supreme Court judge’s decision that had barred the administration of Mayor Eric Adams from switching the city’s quarter-million retirees to a privatized Medicare Advantage plan, in a blow to retirees aiming to preserve their traditional Medicare coverage.

In a unanimous decision authored by Associate Judge Shirley Troutman and issued Wednesday, the Court of Appeals found no merit to retirees’ claims that the city’s planned switchover to Medicare Advantage violated longstanding assurances that every active and retired city worker is entitled to city-funded healthcare through a combination of Medicare and other supplemental insurance. The judges tossed the case back to the lower courts.

The retirees argued that their right to city-funded health care is enshrined in city law and under a legal doctrine known as “promissory estoppel,” which holds parties accountable to promises made even without a formal contract. In this case, the retirees claimed that the city made a clear and unambiguous promise over more than 50 years — in HR meetings, recruitment materials and other communications — that employees would be entitled to traditional Medicare, with the city covering their premiums upon retirement.