Aetna CEO To Justice Department: Block Our Deal And We'll Drop Out Of Obamacare

It's not often in the midst of an antitrust fight that the public gets a look at the gamesmanship that's happening behind the scenes. But thanks to the Huffington Post's Jonathan Cohn and Jeff Young, we got a glimpse at how health insurer Aetna is making its case to acquire rival Humana — and new insight into Aetna's decision announced Tuesday to pull out of Obamcare exchanges in 11 states.

The reporters obtained a copy of a letter from Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini to the Justice Department on July 5. The letter was written while the government was still deciding whether to oppose the insurance companies' merger on the grounds that it (and another proposed deal between Anthem and Cigna) would hurt consumers and reduce competition.

The Bertolini letter was in answer to a Department of Justice request for information about how a decision on the Humana deal would affect Aetna's participation in the health insurance exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act. The letter is pretty direct: If the government moved to block the merger, then Aetna would begin to pull out of the health insurance exchanges...