The Trump campaign says the Affordable Care Act is 'slowly imploding' after Aetna slashed its Obamacare business
In a statement from Dan Kowalski, the deputy national policy director for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, the campaign said Aetna's decision to remove itself from about 70% of the counties where it offers policies under the Affordable Care Act was another sign of the end for Obamacare.
"Aetna's decision to leave the Affordable Care Act's public marketplaces is the latest blow to this broken law that is slowly imploding under its regulatory red tape," the statement said.
While Aetna is leaving most the counties where it offers ACA plans, it will remain in 242 of the 778 counties in which it currently does ACA business.
The Trump campaign statement also said "millions" of Americans had lost their health insurance and businesses have had to "shutter their doors" because of the law.
While the news will affect a large number of the 911,000 Americans that receive health insurance from Aetna's offerings on state exchanges, it's also a blow for the reputation of the law. Aetna is the third of the big-five US health insurers to remove itself from a large portion of the exchanges in the past year, along with Humana and United Healthcare. The insurance giants cited multimillion-dollar losses for their decisions to pull back ACA coverage.
The move also allowed the Trump campaign to reiterate a call for a repeal of the ACA.
"Mr. Trump has vowed to repeal and replace Obamacare," the statement said.
"The bureaucratic mess is costing Americans more everyday. Affordable coverage for evey [sic] American will be the top priority, and under a Trump presidency the government will work for the people again."