Help Wanted: Cheated out of retiree benefits?

"Generally, retiree-only plans are exempt from many of the benefit mandates under . . . PPACA, including the requirement that group health-plan coverage must be available for adult children up to age 26," said Gregory Feigenbaum, vice president of business development for the Long Island Employee Benefits Group Ltd., a Hauppauge benefits-services provider.

On a more detailed note, that exemption applies to a group health plan and coverage offered in connection with it if at the beginning of each plan year, the program has fewer than two participants who are current employees, Feigenbaum said. In other words, virtually all the people covered under the plan have to be retirees.

Feigenbaum said that retirement plans are also exempt from the New York State insurance law requiring companies that aren't self-insured to cover dependents up to age 29.

As for your unemployed graduate-school dependent, you're right about the Healthy NY requirements of current employment or some work in the past 12 months. But your dependent has other options for more affordable coverage, albeit limited ones. For example, several insurers offer limited health plans to individuals at more affordable premiums, Feigenbaum said. So he or she would have to shop around for the best rate. Other options are the "standardized individual direct-payment policies," which all HMOs in New York State offer, Feigenbaum said.

For more information about these individual plans and others for the unemployed, go to newsday.com/business.

Beginning in 2014, the unemployed will have another benefits option. That's when the new federal health law will require states to implement health insurance exchanges that will provide jobless individuals with subsidized health insurance coverage, Feigenbaum said.

And who knows? The soda thief could wind up with a key, and then you are back to square one. I think the solution is cold packs and a thermal bag. They will keep your beverages cold for hours in the security of your locker.

For more on exemptions for retiree-only plans under health-care reform go to http://bit.ly/MpQlL6. For more on health-insurance options for the unemployed go to http://bit.ly/Ng24KA.