Late last month global consulting firm Towers Watson started sending its retirees scary notices that their health-care premiums were about to go up substantially. Some retirees point to Obamacare as the source of their woes, and even the company warns that “health care reform may affect the future of all retiree medical coverage.”

Retirees such as Joan Mitchell said the change could be devastating. She’s 75 years old and her husband, George, a retiree of Sun Oil Co., is 84. The two live on fixed incomes.