Aetna Pulling Out?

[Paradigm]

The reps were somewhat a pointless link in the chain with the ability now to put in online underwriting opinion requests and get a response within a few hours.

Lets hope they dont eventually see us as a useless link as well and go to a home office only model for sales. The more commoditized and homogeneous a product gets the more likely that scenario would become.

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Aetna pulling out? Boy...somebody's going to be very upset if they weren't satisfied yet.

 

[somarco]

pulling out? Boy...somebody's going to be very upset if they weren't satisfied yet.

Probably could have phrased this better . . .

 

[Paradigm]

Typical chumps...mind always in the gutter LOL

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

I was wondering if anybody would catch that!

 

[Paradigm]

I think the pace of health care reform is dumbing down the agent force...a likely result of the disincentive of socialism.

 

[Dave020]

FWIW, I am not sure if it was stated publicly or whether it was stated either within the industry or to former colleagues at Wellpoint (he used to be a senior VP at Wellpoint), but I was told that Ron Williams said that if reform passes and an 80% MLR was required, Aetna would leave the IFP market (at least in CA).

Ron Williams is Aetna's CEO. I heard this from sources at Anthem/Wellpoint.

Aetna laid-off the IFP support people in CA about 6 months ago. We have no field support out here now for IFP.

 

[ABC]

I entertained Aetna and went to few broker meeting with them. They had no sales rep here to work with on Indy or Small Group.

Aetna was one of the few publicly traded health carriers that lost money in 09.

It would not surprise me one bit if they pulled out of the indy market.

In the next 6 months we might only have a couple of carriers in the Individual market.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

The feeling I've always got was that Aetna hated the individual market

 

[YouGotMyMoney]

Doesn't really effect me here in South Florida.

They are not competitive.

We have Cigna for rate-ups instead of riders.