Aetna Inc. (AET), WellPoint, Inc. (WLP), CIGNA Corporation (CI): Is Your State Embracing Obamacare?

But the expansion also carries risk for insurers. As fellow Fool Brenton Flynn noted, Medicaid beneficiaries were mostly children. The newly-eligible includes a higher percentage of older patients, and with that the number of health conditions that require treatment.

Insurers always have the option of opting out if the costs outweigh the rewards. A Centene Corp (NYSE:CNC) subsidiary exited early from Kentucky’s Medicaid program last year due to lost profits. CIGNA Corporation (NYSE:CI) decided not to participate in Connecticut’s HIX for vague reasons that probably related to finances.

Road ahead
Any article about the ACA changes at this point will have a heavy dose of conjecture. States don’t have a deadline for deciding on Medicaid expansion, but dawdling will cost them some of the federal money set aside for funding. It will take years before any definitive analysis of the expansion can take place.

The article Is Your State Embracing Obamacare? originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Brandy Betz.

Fool contributor Brandy Betz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) and WellPoint. The Motley Fool owns shares of WellPoint.

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