Aetna
| Aetna | |
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| Basic facts | |
| Location: | Hartford, Conn. |
| Top official: | Mark T. Bertolini, Chairman and CEO |
| Year founded: | 1853 |
| Website: | Official website |
Aetna is a diversified healthcare benefits company based in the United States. The organization offers a variety of insurance plans including health insurance, prescription drug coverage, dental plans, group life insurance, and disability coverage. Aetna also markets healthcare administration tools including workers' compensation management and health information technology services.[1]
Aetna covers nearly 40 million people through its health insurance plans. The company offers health insurance plans in all 50 states and maintains a provider network of more than 543,000 doctors and 5,200 hospitals.[2]
As of March 2016, Aetna's proposed merger with Humana, a U.S.-based health insurance company, was pending approval from federal antitrust regulators.[3]
History
Aetna was originally established as a life insurance company in 1853. After several decades, the company began to offer accident insurance in 1891. Aetna's life and accident policyholders were able to purchase the company's first health insurance plans in 1899.[4]
Aetna introduced a variety of insurance products during the early 20th century, including automobile insurance, employer liability insurance, and group life insurance. In 1917, Aetna developed insurance policies for bond contractors on government construction projects. Aetna insured a number of government construction projects during the 20th century, including the Hoover Dam in 1931, the National Archives Building in 1932, seven Navy aircraft carriers in 1940, the Manhattan Project in 1944, the United Nations headquarters in 1949, and the restoration of the Statue of Liberty in 1986.[4]
| Aetna's insurance offerings 1853-1951[4] |
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Aetna adapted to the post-World War II employment marketplace by introducing major medical coverage in 1951. At the time, the country was struggling with a labor shortage in combination with a wage freeze. Employers began offering employee benefits, including health insurance coverage, as a means of attracting and maintaining a stable workforce.[4]
| Aetna's mergers and acquisitions 1996-2013[4] |
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From the 1960s through the 1980s, Aetna diversified its offerings in the health insurance marketplace. The organization paid the first Medicare claim in 1966, initiating a long history of Medicare coverage through Aetna. In 1973, Aetna created its first Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) subsidiary, a type of health insurance network aimed at delivering healthcare while controlling costs. Aetna formed Partners National Health Plans in 1985 through a collaboration with Voluntary Hospitals of America, the largest nonprofit hospital organization in the United States. The partnership expanded Aetna's health insurance market and allowed the company to increase offerings of HMO and Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plans.[4][5]
The end of the 20th century and the early 21st century for were marked by mergers, acquisitions, and rebranding efforts by Aetna. The company acquired six health benefits companies between 1996 and 2013. During this period, Aetna organized health savings account (HSA) offerings and pioneered a transparency program that allowed consumers to preview the cost of health services before accessing treatment. The company rebranded its overall mission in 2012 to focus on providing health benefits, completing a roughly 150-year journey from being an insurance provider to being a health benefits organization.[4]
Work
As a diversified healthcare benefits company, Aetna offers a variety of health insurance products to the consumer marketplace. Aetna's insurance products include medical insurance, prescription drug coverage, dental plans, behavioral health insurance, group life coverage, and disability plans. Aetna's more than 40 million policyholders include individuals, college students, employer group members, Medicare and Medicaid recipients, labor organization members, and expatriates.[6]
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| Healthcare policy in the U.S. |
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| Obamacare overview |
| Obamacare lawsuits |
| Medicare and Medicaid |
| Healthcare statistics |
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Lobbying
Aetna's board of directors manages and directs the company's legislative priorities and political engagement. The Aetna government relations team interacts with policymakers at the federal and state levels. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Aetna employed five in-house federal lobbyists in 2015 and partnered with nine outside lobbying firms to support its legislative agenda.[7][8][9]
The following table details Aetna's federal lobbying expenditures:[10]
| Click "show" to the right to view Aetna's federal lobbying expenditures, 1998-2015 | |
|---|---|
| Tax Year | Total Expenditures |
| 2015 | $3,080,000 |
| 2014 | $2,550,000 |
| 2013 | $2,580,000 |
| 2012 | $4,108,884 |
| 2011 | $3,911,042 |
| 2010 | $4,845,894 |
| 2009 | $2,824,995 |
| 2008 | $2,033,778 |
| 2007 | $2,091,502 |
| 2006 | $2,264,710 |
| 2005 | $1,913,378 |
| 2004 | $2,705,698 |
| 2003 | $2,923,839 |
| 2002 | $2,756,923 |
| 2001 | $1,311,680 |
| 2000 | $1,580,000 |
| 1999 | $2,137,990 |
| 1998 | $1,819,072 |
Political contributions
Aetna primarily contributes to political causes through Aetna PAC, the company's political action committee that supports candidates who share in Aetna's healthcare mission. Aetna PAC is a bipartisan organization that supports state and federal candidates through voluntary contributions from Aetna employees. The Aetna PAC board of directors is responsible for managing all political contributions made by Aetna PAC as well as the legally permissible corporate contributions made directly by Aetna. The contributions committee reviews political candidates at the federal and state levels. Aetna makes candidate contribution decisions based on each candidate's voting record, leadership positions, and committee assignments, among other factors.[8]
The following table details Aetna PAC's political contributions as of March 2016:
| Aetna PAC political contributions, 2002-March 2016[11] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Election cycle | Federal candidates | Political committees | State/local candidates | National political parties | Joint fundraising committees | State/local political parties | Total contributions |
| 2016 | $146,000 | $90,500 | -- | $45,000 | $10,000 | $8,250 | $299,800 |
| 2014 | $508,500 | $349,000 | $118,750 | $107,500 | $25,000 | $19,000 | $1,100,000 |
| 2012 | $402,000 | $270,500 | $91,000 | $88,650 | $20,000 | $17,000 | $889,200 |
| 2010 | $475,000 | $215,800 | $80,000 | $46,124 | $21,500 | $2,000 | $840,400 |
| 2008 | $258,500 | $111,500 | $124,254 | $83,000 | -- | $28,500 | $605,800 |
| 2006 | $260,830 | $71,341 | $10,000 | $46,000 | $1,000 | $21,000 | $410,200 |
| 2004 | $277,725 | $81,000 | $11,500 | $60,000 | $7,000 | $24,350 | $461,600 |
| 2002 | $128,225 | $11,500 | $22,760 | -- | -- | $10,800 | $191,300 |
Affordable Care Act
- See also: Healthcare.gov website rollout
Aetna coordinated with the federal government to provide health benefits to consumers following the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services included Aetna in the "Alpha Team," the group of health benefits providers that supplied information and troubleshooting resources during the development of the HealthCare.gov website. According to Mark Bertolini, CEO of Aetna, the company grew concerned about potential technical difficulties as the HealthCare.gov website rollout date approached. Bertolini told CNBC's Squawk Box, "We were pretty nervous as we got further along...as they started missing deadlines, we were pretty convinced it was going to be a difficult launch." During the initial HealthCare.gov website rollout, Aetna worked with the federal government to help remedy technical glitches regarding data sharing and transmission.[12][13]
Following implementation of the ACA, Aetna began offering health benefit plans for individuals and families through public exchanges in the health insurance marketplace. In February 2014, Bertolini expressed concerns regarding the pricing of health benefit plans under the ACA as well as the overall program administration. Bertolini stated that Aetna was working to coordinate with the federal government, but could potentially decide to increase premiums for consumers or opt out of uncompetitive markets.[14][15][16]
In February 2016, Bertolini told The Hill that Aetna remained concerned regarding the sustainability of the health insurance marketplace and the strength of the risk pool. However, Bertolini continued to express optimism about Aetna's participation in the ACA. "We believe it’s incredibly important in the business we’re in that we insure all Americans," Bertolini stated. "This is our first attempt to make this happen, and we believe we have an obligation to stick it out and work with it until we know that it won’t work, and I believe it is too early to give up on this process."[14][15][16]
As of March 2016, Aetna offered health benefit plans through the health insurance marketplace in 15 states.[14]
Decrease in 2017 ACA plan offerings
In August 2016, Aetna announced its intention to withdraw from ACA participation in 11 of 15 states during 2017. The company cited financial losses as its reason for withdrawing from the exchanges. "We will continue to evaluate our participation in individual public exchanges while gaining additional insight from the counties where we will maintain our presence, and may expand our footprint in the future should there be meaningful exchange-related policy improvements," stated Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini.[17]
Aetna’s announcement sparked reactions from the Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump campaigns.
A spokesperson for the Clinton campaign, Jesse Ferguson, said in a statement, “The progress we’ve achieved since the Affordable Care Act became law is undeniable. … Donald Trump has no interest in building on what works.” According to The Wall Street Journal, Ferguson also cited “20 million newly insured Americans, expanded consumer protections and free preventive care” and noted Clinton’s “proposals meant to improve the system.”[18]
Donald Trump’s deputy national policy director, Dan Kowalski, said that “Aetna’s decision to leave the Affordable Care Act’s public marketplaces is the latest blow to this broken law that is slowly imploding under its regulatory red tape.” According to The Washington Times, Kowalski also said that “‘millions’ of Americans saw their bare-bones plans canceled under Obamacare, because of new coverage requirements, and pointed to insurance mandates on employers that have forced some to trim payroll or slash part-timers’ hours to avoid triggering costly fines.”[19]
Public service
Aetna has participated in philanthropic outreach since the early 20th century. The Aetna Foundation was established in 1972 to encourage wellness, improve access to healthcare, and support communities.[2][4][20][21]
Opposition
2016 presidential campaign
On October 21, 2015, Hillary Clinton said she had “serious concerns” about Aetna’s planned acquisition of Humana and other mergers between health insurers. "As we see more consolidation in health care, among both providers and insurers, I'm worried that the balance of power is moving too far away from consumers," Clinton said.[22]
Aetna and Humana, a U.S.-based health insurance company, announced their proposed $34 billion merger on July 3, 2015. As of March 2016, the merger was pending approval from federal antitrust regulators while investigators determine the scope of potential negative impacts on consumer pricing, access to care, and market competition.[3]
U.S. Department of Justice lawsuits
The U.S. Department of Justice filed lawsuits on July 21, 2016, to halt the proposed mergers between Aetna and Humana as well as Cigna and Anthem. The lawsuits arose from concerns that the proposed mergers would limit competition in the health insurance market, raise health insurance premiums, and create challenges for the Affordable Care Act.[23]
“If allowed to proceed, these mergers would fundamentally reshape the health insurance industry,” said Attorney General Loretta Lynch. “They would leave much of the multi-trillion dollar health insurance industry in the hands of three mammoth insurance companies, drastically constricting competition in a number of key markets that tens of millions of Americans rely on to receive health care.”[23]
All four health insurers fought the lawsuits. According to Reuters, Aetna and Humana stated that they would "vigorously defend the companies’ pending merger."[24]
U.S. District Court Judge John Bates issued a ruling to block the merger between Aetna and Humana on January 23, 2017.[25]
Leadership
As of March 2016, the following individuals held leadership positions with Aetna:
Executive leadership
- Mark T. Bertolini, Chairman and CEO
- William J. Casazza, Executive vice president and general counsel, law and regulatory affairs
- Richard di Benedetto, Executive vice president, Aetna International
- Shawn M. Guertin, Executive vice president, chief financial officer, and chief enterprise risk officer
- Steven B. Kelmar, Executive vice president, corporate affairs and chief of staff, office of the chairman
- Dijuana Lewis, Executive vice president, consumer business
- Margaret M. McCarthy, Executive vice president, operations and technology
- Harold L. Paz, Executive vice president and chief medical officer
- Karen S. Rohan, President
- Francis S. Soistman Jr., Executive vice president, government services
- Joseph M. Zubretsky, Senior executive vice president, Healthagen
- Judith H. Jones, Vice president and corporate secretary[26]
Board of directors
- Jeffrey E. Garten, Professor in the practice of international trade, finance, and business, Yale University
- Olympia J. Snowe, Chairman and CEO, Olympia Snowe LLC and former U.S. senator
- Roger N. Farah, Co-CEO and director, Tory Burch LLC
- Ellen M. Hancock, Former president, Jazz Technologies Inc. and former chairman and CEO, Exodus Communications, Inc.
- Richard J. Harrington, Chairman, The Cue Ball Group and former president and CEO, The Thomson Corporation
- Betsy Z. Cohen, Founder, strategic advisor, and former CEO, The Bancorp Inc.
- Frank M. Clark, Former chairman and CEO, Commonwealth Edison Company
- Mark T. Bertolini, Chairman and CEO, Aetna Inc.
- Molly J. Coye M.D., Chief innovation officer, UCLA Health System
- Joseph P. Newhouse, Professor of health policy and management, Harvard University
- Edward J. Ludwig, Former chairman and CEO, Becton, Dickinson and Company
- Fernando Aguirre, Former chairman, president, and CEO, Chiquita Brands International Inc.
- Barbara Hackman Franklin, President and CEO, Barbara Franklin Enterprises and former U.S. secretary of commerce[27]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Aetna. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Aetna, "Aetna Facts & Subsidiaries," accessed March 9, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 GoMedicare.com, "Aetna Medicare Insurance," accessed March 10, 2016
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Healthcare Dive, "Proposed Aetna-Humana merger under antitrust regulatory fire," March 21, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Aetna, "Aetna history," accessed March 9, 2016
- ↑ Rand, "The Rise of HMOs," accessed March 10, 2016
- ↑ Aetna Story 2015, "About us," accessed March 9, 2016
- ↑ Aetna, "The role of the Aetna board of directors," accessed March 10, 2016
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Aetna, "Policies, Procedures & Reporting Processes," accessed March 10, 2016
- ↑ Center for Responsive Politics, "Lobbyists representing Aetna Inc., 2015," accessed March 10, 2016
- ↑ Center for Responsive Politics, "Aetna Inc.," accessed March 9, 2016
- ↑ Center for Responsive Politics, "Aetna Inc. expenditures," accessed March 10, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "How Aetna handled Obamacare’s disastrous launch," December 13, 2013
- ↑ CNBC, "'So much wrong': Aetna CEO blasts Obamacare tech debacle," October 14, 2013
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Aetna, "Health insurance marketplace," accessed March 23, 2016
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 CNBC, "Aetna may pull out of Obamacare: CEO," February 6, 2014
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 The Hill, "Aetna voices 'serious concerns' on ObamaCare sustainability," February 1, 2016
- ↑ NPR, "Aetna Joins Other Major Insurers In Pulling Back From Obamacare," August 16, 2016
- ↑ The Wall Street Journal, "U.S. Political Parties Seize on Aetna’s Health-Exchange Pullback," August 16, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Times, "Trump pounces on Obamacare’s latest woes, says Aetna exodus a sign of ‘imploding’ law," August 16, 2016
- ↑ Aetna Foundation, "Timeline," accessed March 10, 2016
- ↑ Aetna Foundation, "Mission and vision," accessed March 10, 2016
- ↑ Reuters, "Clinton has 'serious concerns' about Aetna-Humana, Anthem-Cigna mergers," October 21, 2015
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 Politico, "DOJ files lawsuits to block mergers of insurance giants," July 21, 2016
- ↑ Reuters, "U.S. regulators sue to block Anthem-Cigna, Aetna-Humana insurer mergers," July 21, 2016
- ↑ Politico, "Judge blocks major health insurance merger," January 23, 2017
- ↑ Aetna Story 2015, "Senior management," accessed March 9, 2016
- ↑ Aetna Story 2015, "Board of directors," accessed March 9, 2016
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