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Aetna Inc. expects to continue selling Affordable Care Act exchange plans in 15 states, and the insurer said it may expand into new areas. The announcement adds to the mixed picture that the industry has been providing about companies’ willingness to stick it out on the exchanges, which have generated red ink for many insurers. Insurers’ moves on the exchanges are being closely watched after UnitedHealth Group Inc. said last month that it would withdraw from all but a handful of the 34 states where it is offering the marketplace plans, amid continued losses. ... But other big insurers have struck a guardedly optimistic tone. (Wilde Mathews and Armour, 5/11)

Health Insurer Aetna Inc on Wednesday said it plans to continue its Obamacare health insurance business next year in the 15 states where it now participates, and may expand to a few additional states. "We have submitted rates in all 15 states where we are participating and have no plans at this point to withdraw from any of them," said company spokesman Walt Cherniak. But he noted that a final determination would hinge on binding agreements being signed with the states in September. (Pierson, 5/11)

Insurers are seeking double-digit premium increases in the coming year for tens of thousands of Mainers who receive insurance through President Barack Obama's health care law. Proposals filed with the Maine Bureau of Insurance would raise individual plan premiums between 14 percent and 23 percent under the health care law's marketplace. All told, more than 84,000 Mainers are signed up for insurance under the Affordable Care Act. (Sharp, 5/11)