Connecticut-based Aetna plans to sell Medicare Advantage plan assets in Louisiana and at least 11 other states to Molina Healthcare if the insurer can successfully acquire Humana, the health insurance companies announced today.
Humana has also agreed to sell certain plans to Molina Healthcare in at least 10 states. The agreements are valued at roughly $117 million.
Aetna’s planned acquisition of Humana is the subject of an antitrust lawsuit from the U.S. Justice Department. But in a joint statement, Mark T. Bertolini, Aetna chairman and CEO, and Bruce Broussard, Humana president, say the agreements with Molina Healthcare promote competition within the highly regulated Medicare industry and address key Justice Department concerns.
“Our agreements with Molina promote competition within the large, diverse and highly regulated Medicare industry, and ensure that seniors continue to have an abundance of options when they decide how to receive Medicare coverage,” the company leaders say. “We believe that these divestitures taken together would address the Department of Justice’s perceived competitive concerns regarding Medicare Advantage.”
Aetna, the nation’s third largest insurer, also is making news today for canceling its plans to expand into more Affordable Care Act markets next year. According to The Wall Street Journal, Aetna became the latest of the five major national health insurers to project a loss on Affordable Care Act plans for 2016.
The company says it would re-evaluate its participation in the business.
Aetna previously expressed some optimism about the ACA exchanges, The Wall Street Journal reports. It’s now setting up a reserve of $65 million to account for expected losses on individual plans over the rest of 2016.
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