Obamacare...The Good..Bad and the Ugly

[Flobewan]

Aetna to Completely Pull Out of ObamaCare Exchanges by 2018

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/05/10/aetna-to-completely-pull-out-obamacare-exchanges-by-2018.html

Health insurance company Aetna (AET) will completely exit the ObamaCare exchanges in 2018.

The company announced late Wednesday it will not offer insurance plans in Delaware or Nebraska, the remaining two states where it was slated to provide coverage under the Affordable Care Act next year.

“We will not offer on- or off-exchange individual plans in Delaware or Nebraska for 2018, and at this time have completely exited the exchanges,” Aetna said in a statement to FOX Business.

In April Aetna said it would not participate on the state exchanges in Virginia next year and last week committed to pulling out of Iowa. In 2016 the insurer sold plans across fifteen states. It trimmed that position to just four states at the outset of 2017, citing financial losses.

“Our individual Commercial products lost nearly $700 million between 2014 and 2016, and are projected to lose more than $200 million in 2017 despite a significant reduction in membership. Those losses are the result of marketplace structural issues that have led to co-op failures and carrier exits, and subsequent risk pool deterioration,” the company said Wednesday.

Last week the House of Representatives passed a health care bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. House Speaker Paul Ryan told Fox News Tuesday he is hopeful the bill will pass the Senate within a “month or two.”