Aetna Settles on New York for New Headquarters in 2018

Aetna Inc., the third-largest U.S. health insurer, will move its corporate headquarters to New York City next year, making it the latest company to leave Connecticut as the state raises taxes and deals with a budget deficit.

New York will get about 250 new workers with the move, while Aetna will keep thousands of jobs in Connecticut and hold on to its Hartford campus. It has about 6,000 employees in the state, most of them in the Hartford area, where it has been located for more than 160 years.

The move comes after Aetna and General Electric publicly criticized the state of Connecticut in 2015 for its taxes and business climate.

Later that year, Aetna agreed to buy Humana Inc., and a decision about its headquarters was delayed. General Electric announced last year that it was moving its headquarters to Boston from Fairfield, Connecticut.

The Humana deal was terminated earlier this year. A few months later, Aetna said it was considering several locations for a new headquarters.

After the move to the new building in Manhattan, Aetna will have between 1,000 and 2,000 employees in New York. New York City will provide a $9.6 million assistance package, the city said in a news release.

Regarding its operations in Connecticut, the company said on its website, “Aetna’s long-term commitment to Connecticut will be based on the state’s economic health.”

Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy said in a statement that the state must address its long-term challenges head-on so that it can be more predictable for businesses and taxpayers.

(Editing by Taylor Harris and Matthew Lewis)

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