Sen. Bernie Sanders says the ability of Aetna to disrupt the public health insurance exchange system in 2017 by withdrawing from 11 states' programs shows why letting private companies sell health insurance is a bad idea.
The Vermont independent cited the Aetna exchange move in an announcement that he will introduce a new "Medicare-for-all" bill in the next Congress.
Aetna announced Tuesday that it intends to sell individual coverage outside of the Affordable Care Act exchange system in many markets next year, but to sell individual coverage through the ACA exchange system only in Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska and Virginia. The Hartford, Connecticut-based insurer said it has to reduce its use of the individual exchange system because of heavy losses on the sale of exchange plans.
Recommended For You
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Allison Bell
Allison Bell, a senior reporter at ThinkAdvisor and BenefitsPRO, previously was an associate editor at National Underwriter Life & Health. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She can be reached through X at @Think_Allison.
