Medicaid expansion fuels enrollment gains for insurers

Publicly traded health insurers have been reporting higher figures in their individual markets as they offer insurance to people though exchanges built under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. They're also benefiting from another provision of the law: Medicaid expansion.

Many states that chose to expand Medicaid this year steered the new beneficiaries into private managed-care plans. Aetna's growth was the most tepid of the five because the company lost some administrative-services contracts with state Medicaid agencies. Aetna is also set to leave the Delaware Medicaid market by Jan. 1, but it could regain its contract in Louisiana.

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