Aetna, one of Connecticut’s largest employers, confirmed this week that it is leaving the state. Though rumors of an exit have swirled since last year, the news still comes as a shock. It extends a long run of bad news coming out of the Nutmeg State, including General Electric’s January 2016 announcement that it will relocate its headquarters from Fairfield to Boston, mounting population losses, and enormous fiscal challenges at the state and city level, which, in Hartford’s case, have prompted open discussion of bankruptcy.
Aetna has been in Hartford for over 150 years. It’s the city’s fourth-largest taxpayer and a major source of corporate philanthropy. Many details remain unclear regarding the insurer’s exodus, including how many of its Connecticut-based 5,800 employees will remain in-state. But the departure will do nothing to ameliorate the dire fiscal problems facing Connecticut and its capital city.