Aetna announced this week that it pull a majority of its participation in the insurance exchanges set up under the Affordable Care Act. Critics see this as payback to the Obama administration for blocking its proposed merger with Humana. This comes after Aetna CEO, Mark Bertoilini is on record as saying that selling insurance in the exchanges is a good investment.

Questions:
1. What do you see as the most contradicting evidence regarding Aetna’s participation in the exchanges? Discuss. What is your opinion about Aetna’s decision in this story? Political or not?
2. Which U.S. Senators have been vocal about Aetna’s decision to pull out of the exchanges? Could anything have been done to the Act when passed to prevent this? Discuss.
3. Other than accept Aetna’s decision or reverse the position regarding the Humana merger, does the government have any other options? Discuss.
4. Which states will be affected?
5. Have there been any other companies pulling out of the exchanges? Discuss.

Source:
Johnson, C. (2016). Aetna warned it would drop out of Obamacare exchanges if its merger was blocked. The Washington Post, August 17 (Retrievable online at https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/08/17/aetna-warned-it-would-drop-out-of-obamacare-exchanges-if-its-merger-was-blocked/)