Aetna Will Now Sell Obamacare Products In Just 4 States

Aetna Inc (NYSE: AET), one of the largest healthcare benefits companies, provided an update on the company's 2017 participation in the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

In a press release issued Monday evening, Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini said the company decided to reduce its individual public exchange presence in 2017. The executive cited a second-quarter pretax loss of $200 million and a total pretax loss of more than $430 million since January 2014 in its individual products.

Bertolini noted that more than 40 payers of various sizes have already made a similar decision to cease selling plans in one or more rating areas in the individual public exchanges.

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Aetna added that it will reduce its individual public exchange participation from 778 to 242 counties and will maintain an on-exchange presence in just Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska and Virginia, marking a decrease from the 15 states where it currently operates.

According to CNN Money, Aetna had more than 800,000 exchange customers as of the end of June. There are also more than 11 million people enrolled in Obamacare this year.

"It seems increasingly clear that big, national insurers are having trouble competing in the Obamacare marketplaces and making money," Larry Levitt, senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation told CNN Money. "Some insurers are still doing well, particularly those that historically served Medicaid beneficiaries."

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