CVS Health’s Aetna health insurance unit has announced return to the business of selling individual coverage under the Affordable Care Act for 2022, four years after it left the exchange owing to rising costs of an increasing number of uninsured patients opting for such coverage.
- Market conditions have been cited as the main reason by the company for the re-entry. CVS chief executive Karen Lynch said this week during the company’s fourth quarter earnings call that the ACA business has improved and will be an important part of the company’s strategy.
- “Our goal is to make healthcare more accessible, more affordable and simpler,” Lynch said in a statement. “In order to do this, we will accelerate the pace of our progress through targeted investments in key areas that will drive our consumer-focused strategy. We believe that solving consumer health needs will deliver better health outcomes and lower costs while creating future economic benefit for CVS Health and its shareholders.”
- The company is making a comeback in the ACA’s or Obama case when the newly elected Biden administration has began taking steps strengthen the health law and increase insurance coverage ambit for Americans.The administration has already used executive orders to open a special open enrollment period for this year to allow Americans who have lost coverage during the pandemic to obtain benefits.