Aetna Inc. is an American managed health care company that sells traditional and consumer directed health care insurance and related services, such as medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, long-term care, and disability plans, primarily through employer-paid (fully or partly) insurance and benefit programs, and through Medicare. Since November 28, 2018, the company has been a subsidiary of CVS Health.[5]
The company's network includes 22.1 million medical members, 12.7 million dental members, 13.1 million pharmacy benefit management services members, 1.2 million health-care professionals, over 690,000 primary care doctors and specialists, and over 5,700 hospitals.[4]
Aetna is descended from Aetna (Fire) Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut.[6] The name of the company is based on Mount Etna, at the time the most active volcano in Europe.[7]
Timeline
1800s
- 1819: Thomas Kimberly Brace became the principal founder and developer of the Aetna (Fire) Insurance Company, established in Hartford.[8] One of his co-founders was Joseph Morgan, father of J. S. Morgan and grandfather of J. P. Morgan. Brace served as the company's first President (and would remain on the Board of Directors until his death in 1860).[8] Henry Leavitt Ellsworth, Yale graduate and attorney, became the second president of Aetna (Fire) Insurance Company, succeeding Thomas Kimberly Brace. Ellsworth, who later became the first U.S. Patent Commissioner, served as Aetna's president until 1821, when he resigned. He continued as a director at the company for another 16 years. Ellsworth's brother, William Wolcott Ellsworth, also served as a director, as well as the company's first general counsel.[9]
- 1820: Brace authored the rewriting of the company Charter allowing Aetna to underwrite life insurance and annuities, earning Brace the title of "father" of American life insurance.[8]
Lawsuits and regulatory action
1999
- A jury in California awarded $116million in punitive damages for "malice, oppression and fraud" to a patient's widow who contended he died after a subsidiary of Aetna delayed approving treatment for stomach cancer that its own doctors had recommended. Lawyers on both sides called it the largest such verdict against a health maintenance organization. In 2001 a settlement was reached.[77][78][79]
2000
Life insurance policies on slaves
In 2000, Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, head of the nonprofit Restitution Study Group of Hoboken, New Jersey, disclosed that, from approximately 1853 to 1860, Aetna had issued life insurance policies to slaveowners covering the lives of their slaves.[98]
The same year, Aetna acknowledged that concrete evidence exists for Aetna issuing coverage for the lives of slaves and released a public apology.[99]
In 2002, Farmer-Paellmann brought suit against Aetna and two other companies in federal court asking for reparations for the descendants of slaves. The lawsuit said Aetna, CSX and Fleet were "unjustly enriched" by "a system that enslaved, tortured, starved and exploited human beings." It argued that African-Americans are still suffering the effects of two and a half centuries of enslavement followed by more than a century of institutionalized racism. The complaint blamed slavery for present-day disparities between blacks and whites in income, education, literacy, health, life expectancy and crime.[13]
This suit was dismissed, and the dismissal largely upheld on appeal.[100]
Lobbying and campaign contributions
Aetna spent more than $2.0 million in 2009 on lobbying.[105] The company spent $809,793 between January 2009 and the end of March 2009—up 41 percent from the same period in 2008.[106] Aetna's campaign contributions include more than $110,000 (~$ in ) to US Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) in 2009,[107] which has been cited by some as the reason for his opposition to the inclusion of a public health insurance option in the Affordable Care Act that would, hypothetically, force private insurers to reduce costs due to competition.[108] From 2005 through 2009, Aetna contributed $56,250 to Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, making Aetna the senator's seventh highest contributor over that time period.[109]
See also
- Eight Forty One (formerly Aetna Building)
- List of United States insurance companies
- Related topics
- Drivotrainer
- Health care reform in the United States
- Health care reform debate in the United States
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Managed health care
- Medicare Advantage
- Pet insurance
- Public health insurance option
External links
- Finding aid for the Aetna Insurance Company Records at the University of Connecticut Archives and Special Collections
References
- AETNA - Trademark Details Justia Trademarks, retrieved February 17, 2026^
- Aetna (AET) Forbes, retrieved July 7, 2020^
- Annual Report 2017 on SEC Filing Form 10-K Aetna Inc., February 23, 2018, retrieved March 10, 2018