Citing Concerns About Broader MA Trends, NYC Comptroller Puts Aetna Pact in Peril

For the second time in recent history, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is refusing to register the city’s contract with a Medicare Advantage insurer. But this time it’s not just legal challenges that has the comptroller questioning the city’s move away from fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare, but the broader trends in the MA industry. And CVS Health Corp.’s Aetna is ready to defend its positioning as an experienced provider of retiree health benefits. 

After multiple delays, the city was planning to transition some 250,000 retirees and their eligible dependents away from FFS Medicare coverage on Sept. 1 to a PPO plan administered by Aetna. The contract is valued at $15 billion over the first five-plus years of the agreement.