aetna

Aetna paid a $750,000 fine as
part of a settlement with the
New York Insurance Department
related to the company
administering an affordable
healthcare plan for the state.
Aetna's violations included failing
to provide a required 30-day
notice of rate increases to about
946 members in 2007, failing to
provide notice to 1,406
terminated workers of their
rights to convert to another
policy, failing to report
enrollment data from May 2007
through August 2008, and failing
to respond to Insurance
Department requests for data in
March 2008.[66]
Life insurance policies on slaves
In 2000 Deadria Farmer-
Paellmann, head of the nonprofit
Restitution Study Group of
Hoboken, New Jersey, disclosed
that from approximately 1853 to
approximately 1860 Aetna had
issued life insurance policies to
slaveowners covering the lives of
their slaves.[67]
Aetna acknowledged that
concrete evidence exists for
Aetna issuing coverage for the
lives of slaves and released a
public apology.[68]
The US Department of Commerce
has determined that in modern
US dollars - calculated for
inflation and interest - slavery
generated trillions of dollars for
the US economy.[69] In 2002,
Farmer-Paellmann brought suit
against Aetna and two other
companies in federal court
asking for reparations for the
descendants of slaves. The
lawsuit said Aetna, CSX and Fleet
were "unjustly enriched" by "a
system that enslaved, tortured,
starved and exploited human
beings. " It argued that African-
Americans are still suffering the
effects of 2½ centuries of
enslavement followed by more
than a century of
institutionalized racism. The
complaint blamed slavery for
present-day disparities between
blacks and whites in income,
education, literacy, health, life
expectancy and crime.[13]
This suit was denied, and the
denial largely upheld on appeal.
[70][71]
In 2006, Farmer-Paellmann
announced a nationwide boycott
of Aetna over the issue of
reparations for its policies
covering slaves. Aetna stated that
its commitment to diversity in the
workplace and its investment of
over 36 million dollars in such
areas as education, health,
economic development,
community partnerships, and
minority-owned business
initiatives in the African-
American community is more
effective at aiding descendants
of slaves and African-Americans
in general than making
restitutions for Aetna's life
ins