Forums: Aetna

House Democrats today filed a brief in support of a legal challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 law that defines marriage as between one man and one woman. The amicus brief filed by 133 Democrats, including the party’s top leaders, maintains that Congress hastily passed legislation during President Bill Clinton’s presidency to limit who can marry and asserts that the law is unconstitutional. The brief was filed in a consolidated court case being considered in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, although a release said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and other top Democratic leaders...

The nation's third-largest health insurance company is the latest to leave the individual policy market in Indiana. Aetna is leaving the Indiana individual market over a rule in the federal health care overhaul that insurers essentially must dedicate 80 percent of the premiums they collect to medical care. Anything less than 80 percent would be paid as rebates to policyholders the following year. Pekin, American Community Mutual, Cigna, and Guardian Life have already left.

The insurance giant's decision affects 1,200 Colorado firms and 5,200 insured people. Aetna will stop selling new health insurance to small groups in Colorado and move companies that are existing clients off the plan in the next year, affecting 1,200 companies and 5,200 employees and their dependents. The state Division of Insurance confirmed Aetna's plans, although the insurance giant said it was not planning to notify policyholders until Friday. The Aetna move comes on the heels of major price hikes by Aetna and other health insurers in Colorado, as companies file with the state for rate-increase approvals. Health-insurance companies across...

“If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor … If you like your coverage, you can keep your coverage.” Barack Obama repeatedly offered these promises to audiences across the US in campaigning for ObamaCare, but Ron Williams, CEO of Aetna, begs to differ. Williams provides health insurance to over 36 million people, and he has one message for Charlie Rose and the US — expect change: Will insurance premiums go up?The answer is yes, and some of the things that will drive those premiums are significant additional taxes the industry will ultimately have to pay in the first...

Many, many times during the health care debate, President Obama promised the American people that if they have insurance and they are happy with it, then it would not change under the Democrats' national health care proposal. "Under the plan, if you like your current health insurance, nothing changes, except your costs will go down by as much as $2,500 per year," Obama promised on his transition website before assuming office. Once in the White House, he repeated that promise over and over and over. You didn't really believe that, did you? Good. To confirm your suspicions, read the new...

HARTFORD, Conn., Feb 25, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The Aetna Foundation today announced two grants totaling $250,000 as part of its continuing efforts to establish racial and ethnic equity in health and health care. The elimination of health and health care disparities is one of three primary focus areas of the Aetna Foundation's grant-making.

Chairman and CEO Ron Williams calls expanding access essential, but not a complete victory if affordability for the average American is not addressed Hartford, Conn., December 24, 2009 — Aetna (NYSE: AET) today commended the U.S. Senate for taking action to significantly expand access to health care coverage for millions of Americans. While noting progress toward meaningful reform, Aetna Chairman and CEO Ronald A. Williams said that more needs to be done to deliver on the full promise of health care system reform. “Today, the Senate took an important step, but reform that doesn’t deal with affordability, tied to health...

“I need a crash cart, stat!” The political prospects for major U.S. healthcare reform have taken a decided turn for the worse in recent days (at least from the point of view of many Democrats). And you don’t need to be some totally plugged-in Washington insider to understand that. Just take a look-see at the stock market performance of industry players such as Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealth Group, and WellPoint. Shares have been trending higher of late. What’s been slowly dawning on Wall Street is that the legislative process in Washington is unlikely to produce a national public health insurance option...

HARTFORD, CT, August 29, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Fortune 100 company Aetna, one of the nation's largest health care insurance providers, has a surprising and little known policy. "Aetna will pay for a woman to receive an abortion for any reason at any time during her pregnancy.  Whether she is 6 weeks pregnant or 6 months pregnant, whether it is her first or her tenth abortion, the company imposes no restrictions whatsoever," according to Epiphany Funds a company which was invested with Aetna and is now aiming to have Aetna change its policy. See the Aetna policy on abortion here:http://www.aetna.com/fsa/understanding/health/healthcareexpe......

News item: The Chicago City Council initiated efforts to cancel contracts with the Wachovia Savings Bank after the bank apologized for its ties with the slave trade. An investigation, required by the bank’s participation in a public housing project, revealed that of the more than a hundred banks North Carolina-based Wachovia has acquired, one of them once put hundreds of African-American slaves to work on railroads and another accepted slaves as collateral for loans that defaulted in the early 1800s. Members of the City Council are also discussing seeking reparations from the bank. An Address to the Chicago City Council...