U.S. judge finds that Aetna misled the public about its reasons for quitting Obamacare

[Eugene]

Last edited Mon Jan 23, 2017, 10:15 PM - Edit history (1)

Related thread: Judge Blocks Aetnas $37 Billion Deal for Humana.

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Source: Los Angeles Times

U.S. judge finds that Aetna misled the public about its reasons for quitting Obamacare

By Michael Hiltzik
JANUARY 23, 2017, 12:00 PM

Aetna claimed this summer that it was pulling out of all but four of the 15 states where it was providing Obamacare individual insurance because of a business decision — it was simply losing too much money on the Obamacare exchanges.

Now a federal judge has ruled that that was a rank falsehood. In fact, says Judge John D. Bates, Aetna made its decision at least partially in response to a federal antitrust lawsuit blocking its proposed $37-billion merger with Humana. Aetna threatened federal officials with the pullout before the lawsuit was filed, and followed through on its threat once it was filed. Bates made the observations in the course of a ruling he issued Monday blocking the merger.

Aetna executives had moved heaven and earth to conceal their decision-making process from the court, in part by discussing the matter on the phone rather than in emails, and by shielding what did get put in writing with the cloak of attorney-client privilege, a practice Bates found came close to “malfeasance.”

The judge’s conclusions about Aetna’s real reasons for pulling out of Obamacare — as opposed to the rationalization the company made in public — are crucial for the debate over the fate of the Affordable Care Act. That’s because the company’s withdrawal has been exploited by Republicans to justify repealing the act. Just last week, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) cited Aetna’s action on the “Charlie Rose” show, saying that it proved how shaky the exchanges were.

Bates found that this rationalization was largely untrue. ...

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Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-aetna-obamacare-20170123-story.html

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Related: United States of America v. Aetna ruling

EDIT: The judge's findings about the ACA exchanges start around page 134 of the ruling.

[orwell]

1. Add another floor...

...to the RepubliCon tower of Bullshit!

[bpositive]

2. Hope karma bites them in the ass

[rgbecker]

3. Read this. Shows just how these corporate bastards work.

We're going to need a revolution.

[DK504]

4. And yet another merger

I guess Comey's getting paid off well for his treason. How many mega-corps do we have left? How few companies own America?

[lark]

5. Hahahahahahaha!

Judge not buying Aetna's lies and threats - Excellent! Wonder if Drumpf bribed Aetna to do this (using Russian rubles, no doubt).