Bertolini was frank about his surprise at the election result; he said the Hartford-based insurer was caught flat-footed.
The top executive of one of the nation's largest health insurance companies said the incoming Trump administration must confront the problems of the health insurance system.
“It’s not affordable, even for people making six figures," said Mark Bertolini, CEO of Aetna. "So it still has to be fixed. We still have to insure everybody,” said Mark Bertolini. He was speaking to the New York Times' Dealbook conference in New York.
He does believe there will be a repeal of Obamacare, but probably not for at least a year, as people are already signed up on the exchanges for 2017. And he said it cannot happen without some kind of replacement.
“I don’t think you can take 17 to 20 million people - you can’t put them out on the street without insurance,” he said.
Bertolini was frank about his surprise at the election result; he said the Hartford-based insurer was caught flat-footed.
“If you were to look at our game board of all the possible outcomes that could have happened in the election, this one wasn’t even on the sheet," he admitted. "And every time someone would bring [it] up and say, well what if the Republicans sweep? I’d say, get out of the room! So we started with a fresh piece of paper yesterday. We had no idea how to approach it.”
He said the biggest question now for any repeal is how to preserve the most essential reforms of the Affordable Care Act. “Things like, guaranteed issue - no preexisting conditions. I think things like 26 year olds on their parents’ policy; I think the expansion of Medicaid are all very important programs that we need to continue, so how do those get passed going forward?" he asked.
Bertolini also spoke about the future of Aetna’s merger with Kentucky based Humana, saying it’s possible now that the way will be cleared to complete the deal.
