<\/a>Aetna has just announced that it will be pulling out of the Affordable Care Act\u2019s insurance exchanges in 11 of the 15 states where it has been participating. People who have wanted “Obamacare” to fail are rejoicing, using Aetna\u2019s withdrawal as \u201cevidence\u201d that the exchanges don\u2019t work and that Obamacare is entering the long-wished-for [but never real] “death spiral” that they hoped to create.<\/p>\n

But Aetna\u2019s motivation may not really be economic at all.<\/p>\n

New reporting \u00a0suggests<\/a> that Aetna is exiting the ACA exchanges not because it\u2019s not making [enough] money. In reality,\u00a0 the withdrawal may be a retaliation for the Department of Justice\u2019s recent ruling against a proposed merger between Aetna and another insurance giant\u2014Humana.<\/p>\n

AlerNet is reporting that Aetna\u2019s CEO, Mark Bertolini sent a letter on July 5, 2015 to the Department of Justice. The letter included the following threat:<\/p>\n

\u2026his company would have “no choice” but to quit Obamacare if a planned merger with fellow insurance company, Humana, was blocked by the DOJ.<\/em><\/p>\n

In Bertolini\u2019s words: \u201cIt 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.\u201d Bertolini went on to cite the, “additional synergies” offered by the merger as a bargaining chip for continuing to support Obamacare.<\/p>\n

But the DOJ was having none of it and promptly rejected the request. Subsequently as we learned this week, Bertolini has stayed true to his word.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What the hell? The Affordable Care Act delivers a gift of millions of new, paying customers to Aetna and other health insurers\u2014and, in return, gets threats and bullying?<\/p>\n

Why do we bother with these people? It\u2019s time to move on: Get these money-grabbing middlemen out of the way, and enact Medicare for All.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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