Aetna pulls out of ACA

Aetna Inc. is saying sayonara to the healthcare exchanges formed under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), announcing it will no longer offer ACA-based policies in any state in 2018. The insurer announced it is pulling out of the last two states where it had offered policies on the healthcare exchanges—Delaware and Nebraska.

The latest decision didn’t come as a surprise since the insurer withdrew from ACA insurance exchanges in 11 states last year and withdrew from Iowa last week.

Participating in the ACA health insurance exchanges has been a pain point for most national insurers, many of whom have reduced the number of policy offerings or have withdrawn from the program altogether. Aetna has said it could lose more than $200 million this year in the four states where it is still selling Affordable Care Act plans, according to Bloomberg.

Insurers have until June 21 to submit proposals for 2018 participation in the ACA’s health insurance exchanges.

Pamela Tabar

Pamela Tabar was editor-in-chief of I Advance Senior Care from 2013-2018. She has worked as a writer and editor for healthcare business media since 1998, including as News Editor of Healthcare Informatics. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Kent State University and a master’s degree in English from the University of York, England.