IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Aetna to Exit Obamacare in Virginia, Citing Possible $200M Loss

Giant insurer Aetna said Wednesday it will not sell Obamacare plans in Virginia next year, citing expected financial losses on such plans in 2017.
Image: A sign for Aetna Inc., sits atop a building at the company headquarters in in Hartford, Conn.
In this Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2014, file photo, a sign for Aetna Inc., sits atop a building at the company headquarters in in Hartford, Conn. Health insurer Aetna Inc. has made a deal to buy competitor Humana Inc. in a $37 billion deal the companies say would create the second-largest managed care company, it was announced Friday, July 3, 2014.Jessica Hill / AP, file
/ Source: CNBC.com
By Dan Mangan, CNBC

Giant insurer Aetna said Wednesday it will not sell Obamacare plans in Virginia next year, citing expected financial losses on such plans in 2017.

Aetna left open the question of whether it will sell such individual health plans anywhere in the United States.

Aetna is quitting most Obamacare health exchanges

Aug. 16, 201600:24

Aetna's decision to exit Virginia in 2018 comes several weeks after it said it would drop out of Iowa's individual market next year.

The company was selling Obamacare plans in just two other states this year: Delaware and Nebraska.

"Despite significantly reducing our exchange footprint, our individual Commercial products could potentially lose more than $200 million in 2017," said Aetna spokesman T.J. Crawford.

"Based on that financial risk, and growing uncertainty in the marketplace, we will not offer on- or off-exchange individual plans in Virginia for 2018. We will communicate decisions on our remaining states as appropriate."

Dan Mangan, CNBC

Dan Mangan is a reporter covering health care for CNBC.com.

Mangan has been a journalist for more than 20 years, most recently as a general assignment/rewrite reporter at the New York Post. In his more than dozen years at The Post, Mangan routinely covered major stories, including the 9/11 terror attacks, the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme, the 2008 financial meltdown and a slew of juicy Gotham scandals du jour, among them the personal tribulations of Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez.