Schakowsky: Aetna Decision Highlights the Need for a Public Option

Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky released the following statement on Aetna’s decision to pull out of 11 state markets and offer health insurance policies in only 4 state Exchanges in 2017:

“Aetna’s decision demonstrates the need for a public option to provide choice and certainty to health care consumers. Today, private insurance companies decide whether or where to sell health policies based on where they can make the greatest profit. In Aetna’s case, they are happy to continue as one of the top Medicare Advantage plan sellers, where they receive payments that are higher than traditional Medicare costs. Yet they are free to leave state marketplaces when they decide it is not worth their while to stay.

“That is why I introduced H.R. 265, the Public Option Deficit Reduction Act, to make sure that there is always a publicly-accountable, non-profit, choice available – and a choice that the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has said would lower premiums and taxpayer costs.”