Aetna pulled out of Obamacare because CEO was angry his big merger got denied

[deminks]

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/08/aetna-pulled-out-of-obamacare-because-ceo-was-angry-his-big-merger-got-denied/#.V7RM7pB84Cg.twitter

“(I)n a letter to the Department of Justice last month, they made a pretty explicit threat,” wrote Kevin Drum, “they would have ‘no choice’ but to cut back their Obamacare participation if they were unable to take advantage of the ‘synergies’ of the merger.”

Or, as Jonathan Cohn and Jeffrey Young paraphrased at Huffington Post, “Give us our merger or we’ll quit Obamacare.”

In the letter from Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini to the Justice Department, Bertolini threatened, “It is very likely that we would need to leave the public exchange business entirely and plan for additional business efficiencies should our deal ultimately be blocked.”

(snip)

In short, Aetna said it must be allowed to acquire Humana and if not, they would abandon the federal healthcare marketplace. But, if Bertolini got what he wanted, he would be happy to devote some of those resources to providing care for the underserved.

(end snip)

[bigbrother05]

1. OK, so should the Feds should cut them out of their health exchange?

Aetna is one of the companies in the Federal Employee Health Benefits program. Maybe they should be asked to not participate. Or better yet, add the public option to the ACA and let Aetna decide how "efficient" they want to be. Am sure BC/BS and all the other providers in FEHB would mind more customers.

[Stellar]

2. Agreed, that's the way I see it. eom