Aetna CEO on Being Part of Obamacare: “It’s Been a Rough Go”

Aetna Chairman and CEO Mark Bertolini said on Tuesday that, while insuring more people is an important goal, it may be time to rethink the current Obamacare system.

“We are one of the alpha testers for the federal marketplace, and it has been a rough go,” Bertolini said, speaking at the Techonomy conference near Tucson, Ariz. “What we need to do is start to consider other solutions that will help the system.”

Aetna is part of the federal health exchanges in 132 markets, but Bertolini said it may be time to figure out an interim approach and rebuild a stronger system.

“We’ve got to admit we need to fix the thing in a fundamental way,” he said.

Just how much repair is needed won’t be known until the government and the industry can “look at what do we have versus what we thought we were going to get,” he said.

“This issue is not about who was right or wrong,” he said. “This is about getting people who are uninsured insured. We’re trying to help. We want to see it work.”