Mark Bertolini
Health insurer Aetna made the national mainstream news this week and dealt a blow to the Affordable Care Act by announcing that it would stop offering individual coverage via public exchanges in 536 counties across the nation.
Aetna cited mounting financial losses for the move, but the Hartford, Connecticut-based payer may have acted in retribution for the administration’s attempt to block the company’s proposed $37 billion merger with Humana.
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The Huffington Post reported early Wednesday that Chairman and CEO Mark Bertolini threatened to leave all public exchanges in 2017.
“Specifically, if the DOJ sues to enjoin the transaction, we will immediately take action to reduce our 2017 exchange footprint,” Bertolini wrote in a July 5 letter to the U.S. Department of Justice. The Huffington Post posted a copy of the letter on its website.
“It is very likely that we would need to leave the public exchange business entirely and plan for additional business efficiencies should our deal ultimately be blocked,” Bertolini continued. Bertolini said in the letter that Aetna actually was planning on expanding its ACA business to 20 states next year, but Aetna announced this week that it was slashing its Obamacare presence to just four states.
On Tuesday, Aetna had denied any link between the ACA exit and the antitrust lawsuit, Politico reported.
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As the Huffington Post noted, the letter actually was dated 16 days before the Justice Department filed suit against Aetna and Humana as well as against Anthem and Cigna, which are planning a $54 billion merger of their own.
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