Aetna to leave Iowa individual market, reconsiders Virginia, Delaware

Aetna Inc will exit Iowa’s Obamacare-compliant individual insurance market in 2018, a year surrounded by uncertainty over which insurers will sell plans and at what price as Republicans seek to dismantle the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

President Donald Trump has promised to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama‘s signature piece of domestic policy, often called Obamacare, but has been stalled by Republicans disagreeing over possible changes.

Many insurers are waffling over where to sell insurance plans in 2018. They worry that Republicans have not said they will extend billions of dollars of subsidies into 2018 and that lawmakers might make other major changes, such as scrapping the requirement that all Americans must have health coverage or pay a fine.

Aetna, citing financial risk and the uncertain outlook, said on Thursday it is still evaluating other remaining individual insurance markets, which include Delaware, Nebraska and Virginia. The company exited about a dozen markets this year. In January it said it had more than 240,000 people in such individual plans and expected to post losses on them this year.

Read the full story at Reuters: Aetna exits Iowa individual insurance market for 2018 | Reuters