Legislative & Regulatory Activities

The process

We carefully consider the candidates, groups and issues we support.

Aetna legislative and regulatory activities

Aetna is committed to supporting the development of sound public policy in health care. We work with many organizations across the political spectrum on a variety of health and other topics that impact our members, our customers, our providers, our industry, our employees and the communities we serve. We engage with shareholders, policy experts and others to develop well-considered policies that reflect diverse perspectives.

We are also a member of trade associations and coalitions that advocate for our industry and free enterprise, and we support policy development organizations and think tanks. Support for third-party organizations is guided by our involvement criteria. A list of the state and federal trade associations and coalitions to which we pay more than $50,000 in dues annually can be found in our Political Contributions and Related Activity Report.

All payments are directed to promote the interests of the company and are made without regard to the political preferences of company officers and executives.

2014 priority issues

Our Government Affairs team focuses on these issues:

• Health care reform and implementation of the Affordable Care Act
• Federal budget and fiscal matters, including reform of entitlement programs
• Tax policy affecting health care and U.S. corporations
• Policies seeking to enhance fair competition in the health care marketplace
• Accountable care and health care information technology

Involvement criteria

The associations and groups we contribute to are selected based on:

• The group’s involvement in and degree of relevance to Aetna’s business and public policy priorities
• The group’s general perspective and support of free enterprise and understanding of market-based principles in guiding its approach to health care systems
• The experience and/or potential of the group to execute its activities in a sound and professional manner

Each payment goes through a legal review to ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.

All payments are directed to promote the interests of the company and are made without regard to the private political preferences of Aetna officers and executives.