Insurer Aetna slashes ACA exchange participation to 4 states

Aetna has become the latest health insurer to retreat from the Affordable Care Act's public exchanges by announcing a pullback that will further deplete customer choices in many pockets of the country.

Dwindling exchange participation from insurers is becoming a concern because competition is supposed to help control insurance price increases, and many carriers have already announced plans to seek price hikes of around 10 percent or more for 2017.

Insurers have struggled to enroll enough healthy people to balance the claims they pay from high-cost customers, and they have complained about steep shortfalls in support from government programs designed to help them.

The nation's third-largest insurer said a second-quarter pre-tax loss of $200 million from its individual insurance coverage helped it decide to limit exposure to the exchanges.

"Aetna's decision to alter its Marketplace participation does not change the fundamental fact that the Health Insurance Marketplace will continue to bring quality coverage to millions of Americans next year and every year after that," said Kevin Counihan, CEO of the federal exchange operator HealthCare.gov, in an emailed statement.