By Josh Kosman, August 2, 2016

Aetna on Tuesday became the latest health insurance giant to deliver bad news on Obamacare.

The company said it expects to lose more than $300 million this year on the 900,000 patients it covers under the Affordable Care Act — and that it would re-evaluate its 15-state coverage in the controversial health plan.

Aetna, the nation’s second largest insurer, said higher- -than-expected costs would also put the kibosh on plans to expand its Obamacare coverage into new states.

Last week, Anthem, which covers 1 million Obamacare patients, also reassessed its ACA future because of expected losses.

A third insurer, UnitedHealth, in April said it will exit most of the 34 states in which it presently offers plans.

The moves by Aetna and Anthem to re-evaluate their Obamacare futures come after the Justice Department sued to block key mergers.

Both companies sought to grow larger to gain cost advantages to overcome expected losses.

Costs are rising faster than expected, the companies said.

Each denied the announcement tied to their ACA futures had anything to do with the move by the Justice Department to block the mergers.

“Any decisions related to our 2017 public exchange presence will be driven by fiscal responsibility,” an Aetna spokesperson told The Post.

“We’ve had very good conversations with the Administration about how to fix the Affordable Care Act,” Aetna Chief Executive Mark Bertolini told Bloomberg TV.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), in a press release, said Aetna’s exit from Obamacare would hurt his constituents.

“The consequence of [Aetna’s] exit would be felt particularly hard in Arizona, where residents of Maricopa County would be left with just two health insurance options — down from eight plans offered in 2016. The crumbling of Obamacare at this alarming rate is simply unsustainable.”

snip

Aetna, which is attempting to merge with rival Humana, and Anthem, which is trying to buy rival Cigna, are fighting the Justice lawsuits.

There is precedent for successfully pressuring the DOJ.

In 2013 the DOJ sued to block American Airlines and US Airways from merging.

Then, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel along with 68 Democratic members of Congress signed a letter sent to then-Attorney General Eric Holder urging a settlement.

The DOJ settled before trial for what many at the time considered a very light remedy.

http://nypost.com/2016/08/02/aetna-is-la...w-to-obamacare/