There is an employ­er mandate…except when there isn’t. Retirees are not pro­tect­ed under the ACA man­date per­tain­ing to employ­ers. Mean­while, the man­date for employ­ees con­tin­ues. But there is help for them – they can always go to the exchange when they are dumped by their plan. In Detroit, Emer­gency Man­ag­er Kevyn Orr fought to send retirees to the exchanges for health insur­ance as part of the city’s plan to exit bank­rupt­cy. Of course, they gave them some mon­ey, and some of them qual­i­fy for Medicare. The city said they would give $125 to $300 per month to retirees over age 65 who do not qual­i­fy for Medicare, $125 to spous­es who aren’t eli­gi­ble for Medicare with a house­hold income below $75,000, and $175 for retirees under 65. Not enough to cov­er the cost, but hey, you’re retired!

In Chica­go, a ten year agree­ment requir­ing the city to share health care costs with retirees has end­ed. May­or Rahm Emmanuel is mov­ing for­ward on a three year phased in plan to cut the retiree health care sub­sidy for retirees from 55% to 0. Those who retired pri­or to 8/23/89 will keep their sub­si­dies for a lifetime.

In She­boy­gan Coun­ty, Wis­con­sin, the Board of Com­mis­sion­ers sim­ply vot­ed to stop cov­er­ing retiree health care and send them to the exchange effec­tive Jan­u­ary 1, 2014