The ValuePick plans are priced to enable previously uninsured small companies, as well as newly formed businesses, to provide coverage for their employees. They will be marketed primarily through insurance agents and brokers in Aetna’s Arizona markets.

“As health care costs continue to rise, small businesses face a constant challenge to find affordable health insurance for their workers,” said Gary Mizell, head of Aetna’s small and middle market business in Arizona. “To help meet this need, Aetna is actively developing solutions for them as we work to reduce the number of uninsured people in Arizona and throughout the country.”

Approximately 900,000 Arizona residents, or 19 percent of the state’s population, lack health insurance. In recent years, Aetna has introduced plans aimed at expanding access to various segments of the uninsured population. Aetna Student Health and Strategic Resource Company, an Aetna company that provides coverage for hourly and part-time workers who otherwise might not find affordable coverage, provide other options for traditionally uninsured populations.

ValuePick features three affordable PPO plan options, which include coverage for prescription drugs. Employers can offer up to all three of the plans side-by-side, and can choose how much to contribute. Their workers then choose the plan that is best for them.

“Aetna is to be commended for proactively providing health care solutions for small businesses,” said Chris Scherzer, senior vice president of Brown and Brown of Arizona. ”The pricing on the ValuePick plans allows companies that had no viable option before to now offer health benefits to their employees.”

Aetna provides health benefits to approximately 785,000 people in the state of Arizona. Those members have access to a contracted network of 86 hospitals, 2,204 primary-care physicians and 6,644 specialists.

Aetna is one of the nation’s leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving approximately 37.3 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 and health care management services for Medicaid plans. Our customers include employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups and expatriates. www.aetna.com