Aetna CEO: Obamacare markets are in a 'death spiral'

Source: Politico | February 15, 2017 | Paul Demko

Obamacare is in a “death spiral,” the influential CEO of Aetna, Mark Bertolini, declared Wednesday morning.

Bertolini’s doomsday prophesy: More insurers will pull out of the government-run marketplaces in the coming weeks and many areas will have no insurers to provide Affordable Care Act coverage in 2018.

“It’s not going to get any better; it’s getting worse,” Bertolini said in an interview at a Wall Street Journal event. But he declined to say whether Aetna would completely pull out of Obamacare markets next year.

Bertolini pointed to a population of covered people in the marketplaces that skews older and sicker than expected.

Humana, which had already significantly limited its exchange footprint this year, announced Tuesday that it would completely pull out of the exchange markets next year after determining its customer base would still be unprofitable. That followed major pullbacks this year from other national insurers, including Aetna and UnitedHealth Group.

Bertolini’s broadside came just moments before the Trump administration released a proposed rule designed to make major changes to Obamacare regulations that it says will temporarily stabilize the law’s insurance marketplaces as Republicans pull together a replacement plan.

The administration released a proposed rule Wednesday outlining several policies sought by health insurers that would shore up the market until Congress settles on an Obamacare repeal plan and possibly a replacement. But it may not go as far as insurers need to shore up the marketplaces, particularly given insurers’ anxiety about the uncertainty about the health law under the Trump administration and the Republican-led Congress.

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