Aetna history

Morgan G. Bulkeley dies after 43 years as Aetna president. Its assets increased from $25.7 million in 1879 to $207 million, and premium income rose more than twenty-fold.

1888: Aetna President Morgan G. Bulkeley, a Republican, was elected governor of Connecticut.

1891: Aetna issued its first accident policy, taking the first step in a 30-year transformation from a monoline insurer to a company that offers a variety of coverage policies.

In 1893 its charter was expanded, allowing the company to become a pioneer in the development of liability insurance.

1902: Aetna began offering liability coverage.

He had already been the mayor of Hartford for several terms, and would eventually wind up his political career as a member of the storied "Millionaires' Senate" of 1906, so named for the wealth of its members.

Eager to profit from the rapidly growing market for automobile insurance, in 1907 Aetna management transformed the liability department into Aetna Life’s first affiliate, the Aetna Accident and Liability Company.

In 1911 Bulkeley lost his senate seat and returned full-time to his position with Aetna.

Group disability policies were offered for the first time in 1919.

In 1922 life insurance in force was $1.3 billion.

E.E. Cammack retires after being Aetna's chief actuary for more than 30 years, a senior officer in the casualty affiliates since 1927, and a member of the Board of Directors of three of the four Aetna companies.

By 1929 assets amounted to $411 million and life insurance in force to $3.79 billion.

At the time of its completion in late 1930, the structure is the largest colonial-style building in the world and is the largest office building in Connecticut.

1936: The first group hospitalization policy is offered.

1944: Aetna becomes the first insurer to advertise on television.

1954: Aetna orders its first computer, an IBM 650.

In 1955, two years after Aetna’s centennial, Brainard resigned the position of president to become Aetna’s first chairman.

Hooker, Richard, Aetna Life Insurance Company: Its First Hundred Years, A History, Hartford, Connecticut: Aetna Life Insurance Company, 1956.

In 1960 Aetna entered the international market with the purchase of Excelsior Life Insurance Company of Toronto.

Smith was an Aetna director and had served as vice chairman under Beers since 1962.

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.

Aetna listed its stock on the New York Stock Exchange in 1968.

In addition, in a move that would become much more important in subsequent decades, Aetna created a health maintenance organization (HMO) subsidiary in 1973.

In 1975, the company created an HMO (health maintenance organization) subsidiary and entered the managed healthcare space.

William H. Donaldson, an Aetna director since 1977 and a former chairman and CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, becomes Aetna chairman, CEO and president, replacing Richard L. Huber, who resigns.

1984: Aetna opened new facilities valued at $200 million.

By 1990 Aetna Life & Casualty had spent more than $400 million to establish its own HMO, a profitable venture that helped buoy net income for that year to $614 million, against a slight drop in overall earnings.

Net income for 1991 was reported at only $505 million, the downturn aggravated by property claims resulting from Hurricane Bob.

1992: American Re-Insurance is divested for $1.31 billion.

1993: Aetna opened its first offices in China.

By April 1994 the company announced further lay-offs, cutting staff by 4,000 jobs.

In 1995, under Compton and newly appointed chairman of strategy and finance Richard L. Huber, Aetna began to shed both its corporate malaise and its tradition-bound methods of operation.

“Aetna Chairman Details New Direction,” Wall Street Journal, April 3, 1996.

Ron Compton retires and is succeeded by Richard L. Huber, president and chief executive officer of Aetna Inc. since July 1997.

Rowe was appointed chairman of Aetna as well in April 2001.

In May 2003 the company broke ranks with its industry rivals and agreed to settle a massive class-action lawsuit that had been brought against the nation's major managed-care insurers.

President Mark T. Bertolini is named CEO of Aetna, succeeding Ronald A. Williams, who remains as chairman until his retirement in April 2011.

In 2013, Aetna acquired Coventry Health Care, a managed care organization, making the combined entity the third largest health insurance company in the US based on membership.

Aetna registered revenues of approximately $58 billion in 2014.

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2017: Aetna announces it will move its corporate headquarters to New York City.

As of December, it had more than 90 million users and more than 1 million content creators, up from 120,000 in 2019.

Blue Back Square in West Hartford sold to company that manages Evergreen Walk May 21, 2021