Businessweek Turns to Joel Ario on Cities' Plans to Move Retirees Into Exchanges

"Troubled Cities See Exchanges as Way to Unload Retirees"
Bloomberg Businessweek

July 1, 2013 - Businessweek turned to Manatt's Joel Ario, a managing director with Manatt Health Solutions, for insight into the cash-strapped cities that are turning to President Obama's healthcare reform for help with retiree health coverage.

Businessweek reports that Detroit and Chicago plan to end or limit health coverage for retirees under 65 who don't yet qualify for Medicare, with the expectation that they can get insurance in exchanges under President Obama's healthcare law. Industry insiders told the publication that more municipalities will consider moving retirees off city rolls and into the exchanges in the face of rising benefit costs and billions of dollars in unfunded liabilities.

Public and private employers began cutting coverage for former workers long before the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act, said Ario. The new marketplaces, which can't exclude people for pre-existing conditions and have tax subsidies, provide a safety net, he said.

"That will become an option that I think a lot of employers and a lot of cities would look at," Ario added.

Read the article here.