On May 12th, Aetna announced the discontinuation of new business sales for our Aetna Advantage Plans for Individuals, Families and the Self Employed in Indiana. Online quoting and application submission for these plans has been disabled.

We are writing today to advise of Aetna’s decision to withdraw from the individual health insurance market and the impact to our existing members.

Note: Aetna will continue to offer AARP® Essential Premier Health Insurance Plans, insured by Aetna and Small Group Plans (groups with 2-50 employees) in Indiana.

Impact to existing members
Our withdrawal will occur in steps over a 6 to 18 month period.

Members do not need to take any action at this time. They will be able to maintain coverage under their current Aetna policy until at least December 2011. Depending on the date of their annual policy renewal, their coverage will end between December 1, 2011 and December 1, 2012.

From June 1, 2011 through November 30, 2011: All existing policies will remain in effect. An existing policy may be renewed if the date of the annual policy renewal occurs by November 30, 2011. The renewal period will be one year.

From December 1, 2011 through December 31, 2012: All outstanding policies will end on the date of their annual policy renewal. For example:

* If a policy renewed on February 1, 2011, coverage will end February 1, 2012.
* If a policy renewed on August 1, 2011, coverage will end on August 1, 2012.

We will continue to allow existing Aetna Advantage Plan members in Indiana to add spouses and dependents to their plans until their coverage ends. However, existing members will not be able to change plans.

How will individual members be notified of this change?
All existing policyholders will be notified by mail on or about June 1, 2011.

While Aetna will continue to administer their individual health plan for at least six months, policyholders are strongly encouraged to seek alternative health insurance coverage prior to their policy termination date indicated above. Members may be eligible for coverage under either Indiana Comprehensive Health Insurance Association or under individual Indiana Health Plan. More information on these two coverages is available at www.indianahealthagents.com.

Tags: Aetna withdrawing from Indiana

For 10/1/10 and later effective dates, Aetna will discontinue new business sales of child-only policies to applicants (under the age of 19) for Aetna Advantage Plans for Individuals, Families and the Self Employed. No existing policyholders are affected by this action.

Effective immediately, any applications received requesting a child-only policy with a 10/1/10 effective date (or later) will be closed. Underwriting will notify applicants by mail of their ineligibility, but also provide options for coverage – see below.

Why is Aetna making this change?
This change positions Aetna for the future so they can effectively handle upcoming changes resulting from healthcare reform (i.e. they are likely to lose money on child-only coverage). New federal rules require guaranteed issue (GI) of coverage for individuals under the age of 19 and no corresponding coverage requirement. These conditions have the potential to significantly increase the cost of premiums and make coverage unaffordable.

No impact to existing child-only policies
Existing policyholders will not be impacted by this action and they may continue their current coverage. These policies are renewable

States affected
Discontinuation of child-only coverage for the following states AK, AR, AZ, CA, CO, DC, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MI, MO, MS, NC, NE, NV, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV, and WY will occur on 10/1/10. The implementation date for the following states CT, MD, OH, and OK is still being established.

Other health insurance options available for individuals under age 19

• Be added as a dependent to a parent’s plan.
• If the above option is not a viable solution, applicants can check www.healthcare.gov for alternatives

Aetna continues to explore options with states where they are ceasing the sales of new child-only policies, including reviewing other regulatory changes that may allow them to re-enter this market and provide a valuable product between now and 2014, but this is highly unlikely.

Tags: Aetna Child Policies, Aetna Children Coverage, Aetna Discontinues Child Only Policies

Aetna has recently clarified their underwriting requirements when a doctor’s visit is needed in order to underwrite a new application. The doctor’s visit must be performed by a Medical Doctor (MD), Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO), Nurse Practitioner/Certified Registered Nurse Practitioner (NP/CRNP) or Physician Assistant (PA).

Aetna Online Application

Age/Timeline Requirements:

Newborn through age 17: The application must include a doctor’s visit within the past 3 years. If there is no doctor’s visit, a current medical exam (within the last 6 months) and physical is required. The only exception to this policy would be a newborn, under 31 days old, or a newly adopted child who is being added to a policy without underwriting.

Age 18 through age 30: The application must include a doctor’s visit within the past 5 years. If there is no doctor’s visit, a current medical exam (within the last 6 months) and physical is required. A physical must include height, weight, and a blood pressure reading.

Age 31 through age 49: The application must include a doctor’s visit within the past 5 years. If there is no doctor’s visit, a current medical exam (within the last 6 months) and physical is required. A physical must include height, weight, a blood pressure reading and lab results for blood sugar and cholesterol.

Age 50 and older: The application must include a doctor’s visit within the past 2 years. If there is no doctor’s visit, a current medical exam (within the last 6 months) and physical is required. A physical must include height, weight, a blood pressure reading, and lab results for blood sugar and cholesterol.

If the Underwriter determines (either through outreach to an applicant in a phone interview or by review of medical records) that the applicant has not had a doctor’s visit within the required time frames, the underwriter will close the application.

The underwriter will document what information is required to be considered for enrollment and a written letter will be sent to the applicant to advise that their application has been closed.

Example: A 50 year old applicant applies for coverage with no medical history. A telephone interview is conducted and at that time, the applicant confirms that he/she has not seen a physician in over 5 years.

At that time, the clinician performing the telephone interview will advise the applicant during the conversation that “To proceed with underwriting your application, the results of a current physical exam is required. This includes but is not limited to: height; weight; blood pressure; lab results for cholesterol and fasting blood sugar; and past medical history. Your application can be continued if you submit this documentation to the underwriting department within the next 30 days. You may fax this information to (866) 223-2041.” The applicant should identify on the fax that this is a “Request to reopen their application” and they should include their closed letter.

Tags: Aetna Doctor Visit Requirement, Aetna Individual and Family Underwritiing Guidelines, Aetna Individual Underwriting, Aetna Underwritng Requirements

Effective November 16, 2009, Aetna implemented a new policy for dependent verification related to newborn/adopted child(children) for all Aetna Advantage Plans for Individuals, Families and Self-Employed nationwide. The new policy requires an attestation form verifying eligibility for the newborn/adopted child(children) to be submitted in order for the newborn/adopted child(children) to be added to the member’s policy after the first 31 days of life/adoption.

A verification form is required if:

• The mother is not on the plan
• The mother is on the plan, but has no record of maternity claims
• Adoption

To add a newborn/adopted child to the member’s policy, Aetna requires a completed attestation form from the subscriber/member within 31 days of the date-of-birth/adoption. In order for the child to remain on the plan, the policyholder must provide a birth certificate, Adoption Decree or proof of legal responsibility within 60 days of DOB/Adoption unless otherwise required by the state. If documentation is not received within the allotted time frame, the request for coverage may be declined.

Note: The newborn/adopted child will be covered under the policyholder’s plan during the first 31 days (whether or not we receive a form as is required by the state).

No additional verification is required if the mother is covered under an Aetna Advantage Plan, either as a subscriber or dependent, and has maternity-related claims in the system or an admission for delivery is indicated. Newborn child(children) will be enrolled when Aetna receives a written request within state guidelines.

Tags: Aetna Adoption Policy, Aetna Adoption Verification, Aetna Newborn Identification, Aetna Newborn Policy, Aetna Newborn Verification

Effective October 1st, Bank of America will administer Health Savings Accounts (HSA) for HSA-compatible Aetna Advantage Plans for Individuals, Families and the Self-Employed. There is no change to Aetna’s HSA-compatible AARP® Essential Premier Health Insurance Plans at this time.

HSAs are currently administered by JPMorgan Chase Bank. Existing members who currently have an HSA with JPMorgan will not be impacted by this change.

What’s New?

Through Bank of America, HSAs will automatically be set up for new members who enroll in an HSA-compatible plan effective on or after October 1st. If no action is taken on the HSA, it will automatically close after 90 days.

The new HSA website will be co-branded with Aetna and Bank of America logos and will provide more tools to help members manage and modify their account online. For example, members can issue payments to providers using an online bill-pay option. They can also set up automatic money transfers to their HSA from their checking or savings account. As another perk, members can view their cash and investment accounts on a single integrated statement.

How are Members Impacted?

• There is no impact to existing members who currently have an HSA with JPMorgan.
• For new members who enroll in an HSA-compatible plan effective on or after October 1st, an HSA will automatically be set up for them. Members will receive a debit card and a welcome package with information to get them started.
• New members can opt out of the HSA by calling Bank of America– or if they take no action, the account will automatically close after 90 days.
• New members will not be able to link to their Bank of America HSA from Aetna Navigator; however, there will still be a link to the JPMorgan website for existing members. Members must save the website link www.benefitsolutions.bankofamerica.com that’s provided in their welcome packet.
• Member customer service is provided by Bank of America from 8:00-11:00 PM EST. The dedicated phone number for Aetna HSA members is 1-866-791-0250; TTY is 1-866-867-0701.

Tags: Aetna Bank of America HSAs, Aetna Health Savings Account Administrator, Aetna Health Savings Accounts, Aetna HSAs

Mercy Harvard Hospital will be joining the Aetna Chicago network effective October 1, 2009. Mercy Harvard Hospital is a 77 bed facility, that is located in Harvard Illinois. This addition will provide members additional choice and improve hospital access.

The Mercy Harvard Hospital will be available to members enrolled in the following Aetna Advantage products:

• HMO
• Aetna Open Access® (an HMO plan)
• Quality Point-of-Service® (QPOS®)
• Aetna Choice® POS
• Aetna Golden Choice®
• Aetna Golden Medicare®
• Managed Choice® POS
• Aetna Open Access® Managed Choice POS
• Aetna Choice® POS II
• Elect Choice® EPO
• Aetna Open Access Elect Choice EPO
• Aetna Select
• Open Access Aetna Select
• Open Choice® PPO
• Aetna HealthFund®
• National Advantage™ Program
• Aetna Workers’ Comp Access

Tags: Aetna Illinois Hospital Networks, Aetna Illinois PPO Network, Aetna Network Illinois, Mercy Hospital Joins Aetna Network

Aetna has announced that the Order of Saint Francis (OSF) Healthcare System will be joining the Aetna Northern IL network effective September 1, 2009.

The OSF Healthcare System will be available to members enrolled in the following Aetna Advantage products:

• Aetna Choice® POS II
• Open Access Aetna Select
• Open Choice PPO
• Aetna HealthFund
• National Advantage Program

OSF Healthcare System is located across Northern Illinois. This addition will provide members an additional 225 physicians (including 144 primary care physicians and 81 specialists) and improve hospital access. With this addition, Aetna will now have 23 participating hospitals in the Northern Illinois network.

Facilities in the OSF Healthcare System include:

• OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center – Rockford, IL
• OSF St. Mary Medical Center – Galesburg, IL
• OSF Holy Family Medical Center – Monmouth, IL
• OSF Saint Francis Medical Center (Flagship hospital) – Peoria, IL
• OSF St. Joseph Medical Center – Bloomington, IL
• OSF Saint James Hospital – Pontiac, IL

Tags: Aetna Illinois Network, Aetna OSF Healthcare System, Aetna PPO Network Illinois, Order of Saint Francis Hospitals, Order of St Francis Healthcare System, Order of St Francis Hospital Aetna networks

CHICAGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Aetna (NYSE: AET) is introducing a health insurance plan with the goal of helping small businesses in under-served communities offer health insurance to their employees for the first time ever.

Called the Aetna Illinois Community Plan, it is designed for Chicago-area small businesses with 2 to 50 eligible employees and is approximately 25 percent less expensive than other Aetna small group insurance plans with similar benefits.

Aetna’s Illinois Community Plan is available through insurance brokers to members and member affiliates of the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which is open to anyone.

“We’re very excited about this affiliation,” said Omar Duque, President and CEO of the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. “We’re hopeful this plan will allow businesses to offer their employees and their families health insurance who have never been able to afford it before.”

“This plan was designed in direct response to the needs raised by the local business community. They told us they needed a health plan that was affordable for the business and their employees, close to home, easy to understand and with robust benefits,” said Marty Castro, vice president of external affairs for diverse market strategies at Aetna’s Chicago office. “So, we designed this plan to make sure it includes hospitals and health care providers in the neighborhoods where people live. There are more than 40 hospitals, 2,400 primary care physicians, 740 Ob/Gyns, 5,600 specialists and 2,000 behavioral health providers participating in this plan. Hospitals and physicians are located in Cook, DuPage, Lake, Kane, Kankakee and Will counties.”

Aetna’s Illinois Community Plan is a tiered plan, meaning there are three tiers of health care providers. If people use the health care providers in the first tier, known as the “Tier 1 community network,” generally they have the least out-of-pocket expense.

The plan focuses on prevention. When using the “community network,” co-pays and deductibles are waived for well-baby exams, child exams, immunizations, adult physical exams, routine mammograms, eye exams and routine gynecological exams. In addition, the plan covers use of “walk-in” clinics that belong to the network.

“There are insurance plans in the marketplace that advertise they’re ‘low-cost,’ but once you check into it, you find they have substantial out-of-pocket costs and don’t cover many things. Aetna’s Illinois Community Plan is one with limited out-of-pocket expense that covers a full spectrum of health care services – doctor’s visits; hospitalizations; lab and x-ray services; outpatient physical, occupational and speech therapy; chiropractic services; outpatient surgery; emergency room and urgent care; and generic prescription drugs,” said Aetna’s Castro. In addition, those with Aetna insurance have access to a wide array of health information and wellness resources on the Aetna web site.

The plan includes hospitals and physicians located in Chicagoland’s Hispanic communities, where many speak Spanish. The Spanish-language website for the new plan (www.aetnaILCommunityPlan.com) will go live in late January and includes a DocFind link to search the physician database. In addition, Aetna offers a Spanish version of its website (www.aetna.com/espanol/) and partners with the Financial Planning Association on a Spanish language informational website about health insurance (www.planifiqueparasusalud.com) A DocFind® site for the Illinois Community Plan is currently available in English: http://www.aetna.com/docfind/custom/ilcommunitynetwork/

“While direct medical costs account for 24 percent of employers’ health care expenses, the cost of on-the-job productivity loss due to illness accounts for 63 percent,” said Castro. “Employers need to look not just at the cost of health benefits when considering whether to offer health insurance, but at the bigger picture of how employee health conditions are affecting benefit results and productivity. These days, having health insurance is critical to a family’s and a community’s financial well-being and security.”

Aetna is well-known for its involvement in Chicago’s Hispanic community. Over the last 3-1/2 years, Aetna and the Aetna Foundation have awarded more than $2 million to organizations in Chicago, most of which are providing health and wellness services in Chicago’s under-served communities, including the Hispanic community. In addition, Aetna’s Chicago employees volunteer thousands of hours in Chicago’s communities and are committed to serving the health needs of our neighbors.

Medicare beneficiaries in Cook County now have access to almost twice as many hospitals and physicians compared with last year through two types of Aetna Medicare Advantage plan options – the Aetna Golden Medicare Plan® (HMO) and the Aetna Golden ChoiceSM Plan (PPO). “Aetna is extremely pleased to have added 18 hospitals and more than 1,200 physicians to the Aetna network, and more specifically, our HMO and PPO offerings for Medicare,” said Nitin Bhargava, North Central Region head of sales for Aetna’s Consumer Segment. “Some notable additions to our network include the University of Illinois at Chicago Health System, Resurrection Health System, Little Company of Mary Hospital and Healthcare Centers, and St. James Hospital and Health Center, among others.”

In addition, Aetna is offering two HMO plans with a zero-premium option in 2009 that are available to all Medicare beneficiaries in Cook County.

Plan Features

Aetna’s Individual Medicare Advantage plan options in Cook County that also include Part D prescription drug coverage feature a wide range of benefits, including:

• Coverage for doctors visits, hospitalization and prescription medications through one plan with the convenience of a single ID card.
• Coverage for all Medicare Part D prescription drugs, including those for common conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, allergies, high cholesterol and arthritis.
• Discounts on vision and hearing aid products and services, and special rates on alternative health care services.

Tags: Aetna Medicare, Aetna Medicare Advantage Plans, Medicare Cook County

Effective January 1, 2009, the following changes occurred with regard to domestic partner coverage with Aetna:

Aetna small group health insurance plans will allow domestic partner coverage in Illinois, although it is not state mandated. Coverage is available to eligible dependents who are same sex or opposite sex partners to groups with 5 or more eligible employees, and is available with the 2007 and future portfolios of plans. Existing Aetna groups who want to provide domestic partner coverage will need to convert to a 2007 or later plan design (2009 plans effective 4/1/09) and it can only be added at renewal.

Tags: Aetna, domestic parter coverage, domestic partner insurance law, Illinois domestic partner