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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHealthcare Individual Mandate Too Weak to Matter, Aetna CEO Says
Wall Streets concern about the U.S. Supreme Courts looming decision on President Obamas healthcare overhaul is overblown because the provision at the heart of the law already has little teeth, the top executive at Aetna Inc. said.
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Some insurers have argued that a strong individual mandate is critical for the stability of the insurance pool by ensuring that healthy people buy insurance in addition to sick patients.
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Even as it exists today, the individual mandate is weak and still presents problems because the penalty is so low, Aetna Chief Executive Mark Bertolini said in an interview on Wednesday. If you get rid of it, I dont know that it makes all that much of a difference.
The Supreme Court decision, Bertolini said, presents more of an opportunity for us to revisit how healthcare reform is structured than actually undoing the underlying dynamics or fundamentals of what they put in the bill.
Bertolini said that the parts of the overhaul law that have already been implemented are not going anywhere.
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2012/01/19/231693.htm
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