Aetna Quits Iowa Exchange, Is Second Insurer to Leave

By Zachary Tracer

April 07, 2017 at 10:48 AM

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(Bloomberg) — Aetna Inc. said Thursday it will quit Iowa's Affordable Care Act public exchange program for individual health insurance plans.

Aetna is the second major insurer this week to say it will exit the state and blame uncertainty about the ACA system's future.

— (Related on ThinkAdvisor: Blue Cross Carrier to End Iowa Individual Sales in 2018)

"Earlier today we informed the appropriate federal and state regulators that Aetna will not participate in the Iowa individual public exchange for 2018 as a result of financial risk and an uncertain outlook for the marketplace," Aetna spokesman T.J. Crawford said in an email. "We are still evaluating Aetna's 2018 individual product presence in our remaining states."

On Monday, Wellmark Inc. said it planned to give up on the Iowa exchange in 2018. Wellmark is one of the state's largest insurers.

Iowa has been using HealthCare.gov, the exchange administration system set up by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to handle exchange plan enrollment and account administration for its residents.

— Read 3 ways ACA change failure could affect agents and their clients on ThinkAdvisor.

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