Reinsurance

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2019

Reinsurance Disclosures [Abstract]

Reinsurance

Reinsurance

The Company utilizes reinsurance agreements primarily to reduce required capital and to facilitate the acquisition or disposition of certain insurance contracts. Ceded reinsurance agreements permit the Company to recover a portion of its losses from reinsurers, although they do not discharge the Company’s primary liability as the direct insurer of the risks reinsured.

On November 30, 2018, Aetna completed the sale of its standalone Medicare Part D prescription drug plans to a subsidiary of WellCare, effective December 31, 2018. In connection with that sale, subsidiaries of WellCare and Aetna entered into reinsurance agreements under which WellCare has ceded to Aetna 100% of the insurance risk related to the divested standalone Medicare Part D prescription drug plans for the 2019 PDP plan year.

In January 2019, the Company entered into two four-year reinsurance agreements with an unrelated reinsurer that allow it to reduce required capital and provide collateralized excess of loss reinsurance coverage on a portion of the Health Care Benefits segment’s group Commercial Insured business.