Target has announced that it will no longer provide health insurance for part-time workers but will send them instead to the new health care exchanges established by the Affordable Care Act. The change could help low-income workers who will now have access to subsidized coverage. It might distress middle-income workers ineligible for a big subsidy, and it is likely to be bad news for taxpayers, who will foot the bill for the coverage Target had provided. But the biggest unanswered question is this: Will Target raise wages to make up for the loss of the company contribution? As a matter of fairness, it should.

Target, one of the nation’s largest discount retailers, is joining several other companies that have cut health benefits for part-time employees. Virtually all complain that their health care costs are rising, and some blame health care reform for making things worse because the new law requires a wider range of benefits and imposes costs on insurers that drive up premiums. But the percentage of employers who offer health coverage for part-time workers has been declining since 2007, well before the reform was enacted in 2010, and the creation of exchanges now gives them a place to send their workers.

Target has been providing insurance for part-time workers who average 20 to 31 hours a week. It will not reveal how many such workers there are in its total work force of 361,000, how much it has been paying toward their premiums, how rich or sparse its benefits are, or how much it will save by dropping part-time coverage. The most Target will say is that fewer than 36,000 workers are enrolled in its part-time health plan, a “historically low number,” according to the company.

It’s impossible to say how many of these employees will flood into the exchanges by April 1, when their coverage is discontinued. Target is easing their transition by making a one-time cash payment of $500 to workers who are currently enrolled. Target says it will not reduce the hours of full-time workers in an effort to send more of them to the exchanges.