Aetna Inc. History

Company Perspectives:

Aetna is dedicated to helping people achieve health and financial security by providing easy access to safe, cost-effective, high-quality health care and protecting their finances against health-related risks. Building on our 150-year heritage, Aetna will be a leader, cooperating with doctors and hospitals, employers, patients, public officials and others to build a stronger, more effective health care system.

Key Dates:

1853:

Aetna Life Insurance Company is incorporated in Connecticut, with Eliphalet Bulkeley serving as founding president.

1891:

The company diversifies into accident insurance.

1899:

Aetna enters the field of health insurance.

1913:

A group department is formed to sell group life insurance.

1936:

The first group hospitalization policy is offered.

1960:

Aetna enters the international market by purchasing Toronto-based Excelsior Life Insurance Company.

1967:

Aetna Life & Casualty Company is created as a holding company, with these subsidiaries: Aetna Life Insurance Company, Aetna Casualty and Surety, Standard Fire Insurance, and the Automobile Insurance Company.

1968:

The company's stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

1973:

A health maintenance organization (HMO) subsidiary is created.

1981:

Aetna reorganizes into five insurance divisions: employees benefits division, personal/financial/security division, commercial insurance division, American Re-Insurance Company, and international insurance division.

1992:

American Re-Insurance is divested for $1.31 billion.

1996:

Aetna sells its property-casualty operations to Travelers Group for $4.1 billion; company pays $8.9 billion for HMO provider U.S. Healthcare, Inc., which is renamed Aetna U.S. Healthcare Inc.; parent company Aetna Life & Casualty is renamed Aetna Inc.

1998:

The U.S. individual life insurance business is sold to Lincoln National Corporation.

1999:

Aetna acquires the healthcare business of the Prudential Insurance Company of America.

2000:

Aetna Inc. spins Aetna U.S. Healthcare off to its shareholders; the remnants of Aetna--the company's international and financial services units--are acquired by ING Groep N.V. for about $7.75 billion; Aetna U.S. Healthcare is renamed Aetna Inc.

Company History:

Further Reading:

• "Aetna: A Long Way to the Recovery Room," Business Week, July 16, 2001, p. 56.
• "Aetna Chairman Details New Direction," Wall Street Journal, April 3, 1996.
• "Aetna Explodes," Economist, March 18, 2000, p. 79.
• "Aetna: Where Group Management Didn't Work," Business Week, February 16, 1976, p. 77.
• Anders, George, "Aetna Will Sell Unit to KKR for $1.4 Billion," Wall Street Journal, June 9, 1992, p. A2.
• Benko, Laura B., "Makeover at Aetna Lags," Modern Healthcare, March 18, 2002, p. 38.
• Brady, Diane, "Aetna's Painful Recovery," Business Week, December 8, 2003, pp. 86-88.
• ------, "The Volcano Behind Aetna: Under Jack Rowe, It's a Force for Health-Care Reform," Business Week, June 9, 2003, pp. 98, 102.
• David, Gregory E., "Opportunity Knocks," Financial World, April 12, 1994, pp. 42+.
• Gentry, Carol, "Aetna's Shares Catch Cold from Its New Health Unit," Wall Street Journal, September 29, 1999, p. B4.
• ------, "As Aetna's Woes Pile Up, Its Chairman Is Under Fire," Wall Street Journal, February 16, 2000, p. B1.
• Gentry, Carol, and Nikhil Deogun, "Aetna to Split into Two Separate Businesses," Wall Street Journal, March 13, 2000, p. A4.
• Gorham, John, "Train Wreck in Hartford," Forbes, March 6, 2000, pp. 70-71.
• Hardman, Adrienne, "Reinventing Aetna," Financial World, November 24, 1992, pp. 22+.
• Hooker, Richard, Aetna Life Insurance Company: Its First Hundred Years, A History, Hartford, Conn.: Aetna Life Insurance Company, 1956.
• Jackson, Susan, "Aetna's Brave Old World," Business Week, March 30, 1998, p. 180.
• King, Resa W., and Marc Frons, "How Government Groomed Jim Lynn for Aetna," Business Week, June 2, 1986, pp. 54+.
• Lagnado, Lucette, "Personality Change: Old-Line Aetna Adopts Managed-Care Tactics and Stirs a Backlash," Wall Street Journal, July 29, 1998, p. A1.
• Lagnado, Lucette, and Joann Lublin, "Hospital Chief Picked to Revive Distressed Aetna," Wall Street Journal, September 6, 2000, p. B1.
• Levick, Diane, "Another Adventure Beckons," Hartford Courant, August 11, 1997.
• "Listening to Its Own Drummer," Forbes, August 17, 1981, pp. 34+.
• Lohse, Deborah, "Aetna to Sell Some Assets to Lincoln," Wall Street Journal, May 22, 1998, p. A3.
• Loomis, Carol J., "Behind the Profits Grow at Aetna," Fortune, November 15, 1982, pp. 54+.
• Martinez, Barbara, "Aetna to Announce Settlement with Physicians," Wall Street Journal, May 22, 2003, p. A3.
• ------, "Aetna to Expand Its Catalog of Health-Plan Products," Wall Street Journal, July 30, 2001, p. B8.
• ------, "Making Amends: Aetna Tries to Improve Bedside Manner in Bid to Help Bottom Line," Wall Street Journal, February 23, 2001, p. A1.
• "Profit Pains at the New Aetna," Business Week, August 1, 1983, pp. 50+.
• Rifkin, Glenn, "Reengineering Aetna," Forbes, June 7, 1993, pp. 78+.
• Roush, Chris, "Aetna's Heavy Ax," Business Week, February 14, 1994, p. 32.
• Rublin, Lauren R., "Temperature Rising," Barron's, March 27, 2000, pp. 21-22.
• Scism, Leslie, "Aetna to Buy New York Health Unit," Wall Street Journal, March 16, 1998, p. A3.
• ------, "Travelers Stock Jumps on Plan to Buy Aetna Unit," Wall Street Journal, November 30, 1995, p. A3.
• Smart, Tim, "Moving Mount Aetna: What It Will Take to Make the U.S. Healthcare Merger Pay," Business Week, February 10, 1997, p. 100.
• Smart, Tim, and Keith H. Hammonds, "Aetna's Booster Shot: An $8.9 Billion Merger Makes It No. 1 in Managed Care," Business Week, April 15, 1996, pp. 41+.
• Smart, Tim, and Richard A. Melcher, "The Floodwaters Rise Around Aetna," Business Week, June 5, 1995, p. 110.
• Steinmetz, Greg, "Aetna Revamps, Taking a Charge of $1.28 Billion," Wall Street Journal, January 31, 1994, p. A3.
• Treaster, Joseph B., "Aetna Agreement with Doctors Envisions Altered Managed Care," New York Times, May 23, 2003, p. A1.
• Winslow, Ron, "Aetna to Acquire Prudential Health Unit," Wall Street Journal, December 11, 1998, p. A3.
• Winslow, Ron, and Leslie Scism, "Aetna Agrees to Acquire U.S. Healthcare," Wall Street Journal, April 2, 1996, p. A2.
• Winslow, Ron, Leslie Scism, and Elyse Tanouye, "Aetna Hopes for Breath of New Life from Acquisition," Wall Street Journal, April 3, 1996, p. B4.
• Wojcik, Joanne, "Aetna's Shift to Health Focus Brings Struggles," Business Insurance, August 13, 2001, p. 1.

Source: International Directory of Company Histories, Vol.63. St. James Press, 2004.

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