Aetna to Leave Health Insurance Exchanges in Most States

Aetna recently announced that it will greatly reduce its participation in the state healthcare exchanges. Starting next year, Aetna will only participate in exchanges in Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska, and Virginia.

Aetna stated that their decision is due to them incurring massive losses on the exchange plans over the last few years. However, detractors have argued that the decision is likely in response to the government stepping in to block their purchase of Humana.

The move is another hit to the exchanges, a key part of the Affordable Care Act, as Aetna joins the nation’s largest insurer, United Healthcare, in pulling out. In Illinois, this is compounded by Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s de- cision to no longer offer its flagship PPO plan on the exchange, but instead only offer the smaller network and lower reimbursing Blue Choice plans.