Aetna announces big dividend, profit jumps 30 pct

[Newsjock]

Source: Associated Press

Shares of Aetna Inc. shot up 12.5 percent Friday after the health insurer announced a significantly higher dividend payment for shareholders and predicted its 2011 profit will be much bigger than what Wall Street expects.

The Hartford, Conn., company also said its fourth-quarter net income rose 30 percent due in part to better pricing and a slowdown in health care use that also has helped its competitors in the last few months of 2010.

... Aetna said the profit boost was "largely the result of higher commercial underwriting margins driven by management actions to appropriately price the business," along with lower health care use. Aetna had struggled through 2009 with medical costs that climbed higher than the company expected when it set prices for that year. Company leaders said then that they repriced a significant portion of Aetna's commercial insurance business.

... Industry observers have said use slowed due to a mild flu season that followed the swine flu outbreak of 2009 and because consumers tend to cut back on care during a struggling or recovering economy.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110204/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_aetna

[Pale Blue Dot]

1. Great! Increased corporate profits mean more jobs!

Aetna Cuts 250 Workers, Including 35 In Connecticut
By Matthew Sturdevant on February 3, 2011

Aetna is cutting 250 workers companywide this week, which includes about 35 in Connecticut.

Aetna is "aligning our staffing levels to our business needs," said company spokesman Fred Laberge.

The Hartford-based health insurer's medical membership declined by about 499,000 to 18.53 million as of Sept. 30, 2010, compared with a year before. Membership in dental insurance dropped about 385,000 to 13.8 million during the same period and pharmacy membership dropped 1 million to 10.15 million.

Aetna saw lower numbers across business segments -- large, middle and small businesses all had fewer employees enrolled in health plans last year. The drop in membership is a factor of the weak economy and companies laying off workers.

http://blogs.courant.com/connecticut_insurance/2011/02/aetna-cuts-250-workers-includi.html

[Divine Discontent]

2. I have friends who work(ed) at Aetna. They were terrified by the lies that were told to them about

how the company was going to have to cut jobs if Obama's plans got through Congress.

This little bit of news sure smacks the hell out of that lie. It's all about gouging the workers so the execs can make larger and larger bonuses - when will this madness end?

[aquart]

4. It usually ends when their heads roll on the ground.

Starts right up again, though.

[Jennicut]

3. Connecticut loses more jobs.

Thanks Aetna. Sigh. Love my state, hate some of the companies that exist here.

[lib2DaBone]

5. As health care is rationed..millions go untreated..

.. and PROFITS go thru the roof. Way to go AMerica.

Max Baucus, Kent Conrad and Mr. Obama have served the Republicans well.

[cpamomfromtexas]

6. They wouldn't pay for anesthesia for me

My doctor said they were crazy. She says the system is broken and no one does the surgery without anesthesia (it's a neurotomy).

I told her I'd be willing to do it without anesthesia if my husband could tape it and put it on utube so everyone could see what aetna puts people through.