Council Members Vent Anger Over Nutter's New Prescription Plan For Some City Workers
By Mike Dunn
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- City Council members are furious about Mayor Michael Nutter's new plan to encourage city workers to stop smoking, and they gave his aides an earful at a hearing Wednesday.
The Nutter Administration in October announced that all non-unionized city workers next year will be placed in a new health care network made up of pharmacies that do not sell cigarettes. Among those affected are city council members, and they held a hearing on the plan. The mayor's director of Human Resources, Al D'Attilio, said the change does not make it harder to fill prescriptions.
"We charted where our members live, and where the nearest preferred (network) pharmacy is located," he said. "On average, that's less than a half-mile. At most, it is 1.4 miles. We don't think that that's an issue with access."
But council members were fuming. Ed Neilson (above photo), the newest member of Council, accused the administration of ramming this through.
"There's 5,400 employees that this is going to cover, and you just jammed it down their throat with no education," Neilson said. "That's a disgrace. There's 5,400 people, we're talking about, not two people on the second floor (of City Hall, the location of the mayor's office). There's 5,400 people! And you just jammed it down their throat."
But unlike many other matters on which Council opines, the lawmakers have no ability to stop the new prescription network, and it will take effect on January first. The Administration says the network includes pharmacies at CVS, Target and Wegmans, as well as about 135 independent pharmacies that also no longer sell cigarettes.
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