Aetna Supports Individual Health Insurance Coverage Requirement And Transparency For Connecticut
HARTFORD, Conn., January 8, 2007 — Aetna (NYSE: ΑET) today announced that, while it supports the recommendations of the Connecticut Health Policy Council Inc, it supports additional, important initiatives -- requiring individual health care coverage and complete transparency for all Connecticut citizens.
"The Connecticut Health Insurance Policy Council, of which Aetna has been an active member, has worked diligently and collaboratively and come up with some excellent recommendations," said Mark Bertolini, executive vice president and head of regional businesses for Aetna. "However, we frankly didn’t sign on to the recommendations because we don’t believe they have gone far enough on providing coverage for the uninsured."
Aetna believes that an individual health care coverage requirement is the best way to achieve universal coverage while preserving consumer choice and the employer-based health care system.
"With approximately 47 million Americans without health insurance, we believe that an individual coverage requirement is a viable, common-sense solution to solving this national problem," Bertolini said. He emphasized that an individual coverage requirement must be paired with subsidies for those who cannot afford to purchase health insurance.
Consistent with its efforts to be a thought leader on critical health policy issues of facing the nation, Aetna was the first national insurer to support an individual coverage requirement that would require all Americans to possess a basic, affordable level of health insurance (see http://www.aetna.com/news/2005/pr_20050429.htm). The company also has taken a leadership role in areas such as racial and ethnic disparities, behavioral health, and consumer empowerment in health care decision making.
Bertolini also noted that the policy council’s report falls short on the issue of providing transparency to consumers. Aetna has been working nationally to increase transparency of the health care system by providing consumers access to cost and quality reports for health care providers, and Connecticut should take a leadership role in helping provide information to consumers.
"We want to be clear that we support the Council’s efforts to reform the health care system in Connecticut and we agree with many of their recommendations. However, we believe true reform will take an even greater initiative than is outlined in the report, and we are offering these additional proposals for Governor Rell and the Connecticut General Assembly to consider in 2007," Bertolini said.
Aetna recognizes that implementing an individual coverage requirement is an enormous challenge and that it may be necessary to phase in the requirement, starting with specific segments of the uninsured population such as those living in households with incomes at or above 500 percent of the federal poverty level and college students.
Aetna is one of the nation’s leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving approximately 29.8 million people with information and resources to help them make better informed decisions about their health care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, group life and disability plans, and medical management capabilities. Our customers include employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans and government-sponsored plans. www.aetna.com
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