Aetna CEO: We May Just Have to Pull Out of Obamacare

PJ Media ^ | January 22, 2014 | Bryan Preston

[jazusamo]

The Obama administration claims that its Obamacare sign-up numbers aren’t that far off from where they need to be. They have a vested interest in selling the program as a success, and have proven themselves dishonest about it from the beginning. Obama knew that his “if you like your healthcare, you can keep your healthcare” promise was bogus the entire time.

The CEO of Aetna insurance, Mark Bertolini, has a different take on the president’s signature healthcare law.

Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini told CNBC on Wednesday that Obamacare has failed to attract the uninsured, and he offered a scenario in which the insurance company could be forced to pull out of program.

The company will be submitting Obamacare rates for 2015 on May 15.

“Are they going to be double-digit [increases] or are we going to get beat up because they’re double-digit or are we just going to have to pull out of the program?” Bertolini asked in a “Squawk Box” interview from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “Those questions can’t be answered until we see the population we have today. And we really don’t have a good view on that.”

He said that so far, Obamacare has just shifted people who were insured in the individual market to the public exchanges where they could get a better deal on a subsidy for coverage. “We see only 11 percent of the population is actually people that were firmly uninsured that are now insured. So [it] didn’t really eat into the uninsured population.”

Obamacare has actually added to the number of uninsured, with Target being the latest company to announce that it was ending healthcare for its part-time workers. They will be dumped onto the exchanges, and some will be subsidized by the government, meaning the cost to taxpayers will increase.

[oh8eleven]

They are my supplemental with my medicare and I pay just under Three hundred fifty dollars a MONTH
Have you looked into Medicare Advantage programs? Depending on where you live and your personal needs, they can be as low as $0 (zero) a month.

[Rannug]

“Guys say they’re going to pull out, but never do.”

It just feely so damn good.

[wbill]

True, but this guy is just posing for the cameras.

[USS Alaska]

Agree. Guys say they’re going to pull out, but never do.

But it created my beautiful daughter:)

[Ray76]

DOJ will investigate Aetna for “disparate impact” ie: racism.

[FlingWingFlyer]

I’ll bet that Eric the Holder and his lawyer toadies are already drafting a billion dollar lawsuit against Aetna.

[goat granny]

Medicare takes out one hundred dollars a month for coverage and so the total I pay for 1 old lady is over 400 dollars a month. I had Humana out to consider maybe changing but the one thing I learned is the Government gives the company money for each person these companies enroll (a payment and you still have to pay the medicare 104 dollars out of your SS.) Bribing the companies to get rid of the government having to pay for the senior citizen medical expenses. I can foresee if enough people drop medicare the government can then make it more expensive for those companies that survive and leave the country no insurance companies and only the government single payer plan. That would put everyone with no choice. Humana has low monthly payments but everything else has co-pays. with medicare you have no co-pays for medical care. (hope I explained this clearly,) I have no co-pays the way I am set up now.. The young man that came out from Humana was quite honest in answering my questions. The secret is to know what questions to ask. My deductable is low with medicare and high with those companies left..

[Buckeye McFrog]

Yep. SEVERE Penalty for Early Withdrawl!

[The Sons of Liberty]

The IRS announces a "Full Proctological Audit"

Outstanding Post!

[Flick Lives]

Obamacare has actually added to the number of uninsured, with Target being the latest company to announce that it was ending healthcare for its part-time workers. They will be dumped onto the exchanges, and some will be subsidized by the government, meaning the cost to taxpayers will increase.

Remember how government subsidizing college education has helped hold down tuition? Not! Government subsidizing healthcare will have the same effect.

[Noob1999]

...................They are my supplemental with my medicare and I pay just under Three hundred fifty dollars a MONTH for paying off 20% medical expenses that medicare doesn’t cover. It goes up every year..............

What!!! That can’t possibly be correct!

I’ve got Humana, and my 2013 SS Benefit Statement says that my SS checks were reduced by my Humana Medicare Advantage by $489.60 for the entire year. Office copays are $15; specialist $40, and their RightSource pharmacy fills all my meds (generic) for $0 co-pay for the year, and mails them to me free. I pay nothing else out of pocket, (unless I need a one time med and go to CVS)

I know that location can make a difference in premiums, but your numbers are off the charts.

Check out Humana next fall during open enrollment.

[MaxMax]

Money drain. Only the sick are signing up. Single payer will not be accepted.

[GeronL]

I wish that were true

[goat granny]

I don't have prescription coverage but if I purchase just prescription,its over 80 dollars a month.. I don't have any co-pay with Aetna, but I started out with Continental but it has become a subside of Aetna. Since its automatically taken out of SS (medicare) and the cost of the supplemental also comes out of my checking account automatically, I know what I pay, and from what Humana told me along with a booklet with all the information in it, maybe I didn't explain it well enough. For the supplemental with Aetna(what I have now) I do NO co pays for anything. I fell and fractured my patella last year so we went over all the co-pays that accident would have cost me and it was gads more than what I really had to pay staying with Aetna/Medicare..

Many of the things I didn't have to pay for with what I have now, I had a co-pay for with Humana. Everything had a co-pay. I have no co-pays with my supplemental as I set it up many years ago..I do have the Plan F supplemental which is why I pay over 300 a month, but like I said, it goes up every year by at least 20 dollars...

[goat granny]

I have received no info. from Aetna that they are dropping out or into anything. I will check my next bank account to see if they are still taking premiums out of my checking account...

[RinaseaofDs]

This is pretty massive.

It’s a public company. They can’t ‘fake it’ and offer the insurance at ‘friend prices’ to the admin.

They may be ratcheting up the rhetoric for a bail out - “UNLESS something’s done, we’ll have to pull out of Obamacare,” is essentially the entire quote.

Aetna was a leader, and spent billions, on electronic health records technology (EHR). This is big news.

[Avid Coug]

A shot over Obama’s bow by the private insurance industry. Give us our bailouts to support Obamacare, or we drop you.

[ltc8k6]

Aetna will probably be threatened into toeing the line.

They may need double digit rate increases, but they probably will not be allowed to have them or to talk about needing them.

They will probably be threatened and given empty promises.

[Myrddin]

I'm paying $492 every two weeks AND a $7,000 deductible (myself + my wife) must be met before the insurance company pays any benefit at all. Aetna is the carrier. Do the math. I have to produce $13,000 before tax income just to cover premiums. I'm putting some money into an HSA that is permitted to cover SOME of the deductibles. Most of that $7,000 is after tax money.

[newnhdad]

it won’t make any nightly newscast, it will be attacked and it will end-up with charges being brought against himself or his company.