Hartford health insurer Aetna is one of Hartford’s and Connecticut’s oldest corporate residents but its presence here hasn’t been guaranteed in recent years.
Former CEO and Chairman Mark Bertolini threatened to move the company’s headquarters to New York City, a plan that fizzled after Aetna agreed to be purchased by Rhode Island-based CVS Health in late 2018 for $69 billion.
Following that deal, Karen Lynch took over as president of the health insurer. Lynch, who is also CVS Health’s executive vice president, is now a major player in determining Aetna’s future presence in Connecticut. CVS has pledged to keep Aetna’s headquarters in Hartford for at least 10 years and maintain 5,291 employees here for at least four years. What happens after that is anyone’s guess.
There were whispers that Lynch was a proponent of keeping Aetna headquartered in Hartford when Bertolini had his heart set on Manhattan, but she’s declined to comment about that.
Beyond personnel decisions, Lynch now stands on the front lines of trying to make work one of the largest healthcare combinations in U.S. history that has promised to reshape the healthcare landscape by pairing a large drug store/pharmacy-benefit manager with the third-largest U.S. health insurer.
Ultimately, Lynch and Aetna will be judged by their ability to control healthcare costs and improve care quality.