US health insurers Aetna, Humana drop merger; Cigna seeks to end Anthem deal

New York

HEALTH insurers Aetna Inc and Humana Inc walked away from their US$34 billion merger on Tuesday and Cigna Corp sought to end its deal with Anthem, shelving the industry consolidation they charted to address former president Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act.

Humana also said that it would exit the Obamacare individual insurance market after this year, saying that early medical costs were running a bit high. Humana was one of several insurers that lost money in 2016 and then cut back offerings for this year, saying the programme needs to be changed.