Aetna Seeks to Acquire Consumer-Data Companies to Expand Market, CEO Says
Aetna Inc. (AET), the third-largest U.S. health insurer, will seek to buy consumer-data companies to help find new customers who buy individual policies, Chief Executive Officer Mark Bertolini said today.
The health-care overhaul calls for people without coverage to shop in state-based exchanges for subsidized medical coverage starting in 2014. The change will lead employers to shift more medical costs to employees, and Hartford, Connecticut-based Aetna will have to learn to market to those potential customers, Bertolini said. Individual policies accounted for 2 percent of Aetna’s health-care membership as of Sept. 30, the company said Dec. 15 in a presentation.
“We need to be more of a retail-based company,” Bertolini said in a telephone interview. “We’re not anywhere near where we need to be.”
The insurer today unveiled a redesign of its company logo, the seventh time the brand has been refreshed in 160 years, Bertolini said. The change highlights a focus on individual care, the company said in a statement.
“We need to think about the way people get consumer retail products,” Bertolini said. With better data and analysis, Aetna can target people by age group and other demographics, he said.
Aetna also will continue to consider purchasing providers of Medicare and Medicaid, Bertolini said. Medicare is the U.S. health program for the elderly and disabled and Medicaid is the plan for the poor.
Aetna rose less than 1 percent to $44.91 at the close of trading.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Frier in New York at sfrier1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net.
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