Humana’s exit could trip up Obamacare
The Justice Department’s suit filed Thursday to block Aetna from buying Humana may have unintended consequences for President Obama’s Affordable Care Act exchanges.
Hours before the suit was filed, Humana, in releasing its second-quarter results, said it is planning to leave eight of the 19 state health exchanges it now operates in because they are money-losers.
Such a move would be a blow to the president’s state-focused Obamacare.
Some saw the threat to leave the state exchanges as a direct challenge to the administration and its move to block the merger.
Aetna also has a large presence on the Obamacare exchanges. It said in May it planned to retain its presence next year in the same states in which it currently operates.
“But that was then, and this is now,” a source close to the situation said, implying that Aetna, without the financial benefits of the merger, may also choose to exit exchanges in states where it is losing money.
Aetna reports second-quarter results Aug. 2.
The two insurers together represent about 2 million of the 18 million people being insured through Obamacare, Charles Gaba, founder of ACASignups.net, told The Post.
Justice filed suit because it feels the $37 billion merger would decrease health insurance competition and raise prices.
Health insurance rates this year overall rose by an effective 8 percent, Gaba says, higher than in the past few years.
A Humana spokesman said the exchange announcement was separate from its plans to fight the Justice Department suit.
Aetna declined comment.