The third largest and powerful healthcare plan provider in the country has stepped out of the group.
The third largest medical insurer in the United States has now announced that it will be quitting America’s Health Insurance Plan, which is the powerful lobbying group in the industry that has been standing behind Obamacare.
This is the second large health insurance company to leave the group, following the departure of UnitedHealthCare.
Back in June, UnitedHealthCare announced that it was to be the first insurer to leave America’s Health Insurance Plan (AHIP). When that insurance company stepped away from the group, it said it made the decision because the interests of the insurer and of its customers were “no longer best represented by AHIP”. In this most recent departure, a health care exec was quoted in The Hill newspaper saying that when it came to the decision made by Aetna, “There’s a sense that AHIP has become a one-trick pony for the Obama administration.” The executive said this was particularly true when it came to the advancement of the health care reform through the Affordable Care Act.
In 2015, America’s Health Insurance Plan also saw its long-time CEO, Karen Ignagni step down.
Once Ignagni left, Marilyn Tavenner took over as CEO of AHIP. She had been responsible for the oversight over the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, having been the administrator for the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. She had been behind the wheel of the federal health insurance exchange website, HealthCare.gov, when it was first rolled out in October 2013, as the federal official in charge at the time.
Following the catastrophe of that website rollout, which drew considerable disapproval from virtually everyone – including the Democrats who had been the strongest supporters of the Affordable Care Act – Tavenner stayed on for nearly two more years before leaving to become the CEO of AHIP. That said, criticism has followed her, as many of the AHIP members have spoken out against the $162,000 per year that she is currently receiving from Hospital Corporation of America in retirement benefits.
Moreover, Tavenner is probably receiving a great deal more than that as CEO of America’s Health Insuarnce Plan, as Ignagni had been earning about $2 million per year.
