Humana Follows United Out the ACA Exit Door

In advance of formal approval of its merger with Aetna, Humana plans to stop participating in some state insurance exchanges constructed under the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”). The company says its member base dropped 21% compared with the first quarter of 2015. That includes those who bought policies under the ACA exchanges, which many insurers say are hard on their bottom lines to begin with. UnitedHealth Group was the first major insurer to start backing out of ACA exchange plans—in just a few states at first, but later announcing that it would stop participating in most states’ exchanges by the end of 2016. If widespread, Humana’s exits could further shrink a market that already has some fretting over the implications of less competition.