Will You Be Among 600,000 Losing Aetna Health Insurance?

Aetna Health Insurance has not had a stellar year when it comes to profits. That is no surprise, not in this tough economy. However, when I tried to find out about the impact that rising costs and higher insurance premiums would have for those with Aetna Insurance, I discovered that Aetna employees were not necessarily in the information loop themselves. They knew there would be job cuts for Aetna employees but weren't quite so clear about the effect of rising health insurance premiums on Aetna customers with health insurance.

Do You Have Health Insurance with Aetna? Will You Lose Coverage?

According to the Huffington Post, Aetna is making plans to cut costs and this may entail the loss of as many as 650,000 clients due to increased premiums or other factors. Aetna is the third largest health insurance company so this could have a major impact on those with Aetna health insurance. Because I wanted to find out more, I decided to call the company. First I contacted the main customer information line and then was transferred to the Executive Resolution Team. The person at the main customer information line was surprised by the latest news.

I contacted a woman named Marian with the Executive Resolution Team at Aetna. She said that only six people worked on her team and that decisions were based on info about individual's health history and certain underwriting decisions.

The Executive Resolution Team was described to me as a place of "last resort" when customers have complaints. Marian did give me her email address so I could send her the latest info about Aetna's decisions and was very interested in knowing about 600,000 customers possibly being forced to lose their coverage.

I emailed the info to her so that the Executive Resolution Team could have more information about Aetna's latest changes. But what about you - or someone you know - who has Aetna health insurance? Will you lose your coverage? Odds are that premium prices will go up and if they rise too much, customers may not be able to afford the health insurance premiums. Your best bet may be to research other insurance options as well as to try and find out how much your premiums may rise.

Aetna is likely to force consumers who can't pay higher health insurance premiums to go elsewhere. Those who stay will face the Aetna's higher health insurance premiums. Aetna may have been challenged by medical costs which rose more quickly than anticipated in 2009, making profits more difficult to achieve. Higher premiums and fewer members could turn that around.

Do you Work for Aetna or are you an Aetna Employee ? Here's What Aetna Insurance Changes Could Mean for You

Aetna has plans to cut about 625 jobs (although that could change as time goes on). Those 625 jobs will be cut now and plans are in the works to cut another 625 next year. This means that 1250 people will lose jobs with Aetna. I wonder how many had insurance through the company? Could any lose jobs and their health benefits as well? One can't help wondering. Those who are lucky enough to hang onto their jobs may have to work in field offices or areas where there is consolidation of offices.

All of this is part of cost cutting measures, apparently because Aetna's research and/or info wasn't on target and they aren't making the expected profit needed to operate well. When I called Aetna's main customer service number, an employee of the company indicated surprise at the news. I hope she won't be one of those whose jobs are cut.

I then called Aetna's Corporate Office at 800-872-3862 and the switchboard operator transferred me to Marian (as noted above). She was aware of the employee job cuts but seemed less clear about the effect on Aetna customers. The bottom line, though, is that Aetna's pricing system did not achieve the results desired by the company.

Sources:
Phone calls to Aetna's Executive Resolution Team
Aetna Main Information line at 1-866-582-9629.
Aetna Cutting About 625 Jobs, Will Pare More in 2010, Bloomberg here
Aetna Forcing 600,000 Plus To Lose Coverage In Order to Raise Profits, Huffington Post, here