The U.S. unemployment rate is lower than Aetna Inc. (AET) assumed when it priced its health plans for this year, but the managed-care company isn't sure that means more people will become enrolled in group health plans, President and Chief Executive Mark Bertolini said Monday.

So far, declining joblessness hasn't translated into growth in employer-sponsored, group-health insurance enrollment at Aetna, although it has put the brakes on membership erosion, Bertolini said at a Cowen and Co. health-care conference.

"We have not seen employment come back [in group plans] yet even though the unemployment rate is falling," he said. "What has happened is that we have stopped seeing a decline in group health," which has flattened out in recent months.

The U.S. jobless rate declined to 8.9% last month, the lowest level since April 2009.

Aetna assumed a 10% unemployment rate when pricing its 2011 health plans and, while the rate now is lower than that, it's unclear whether more people will obtain benefits as a result, Bertolini said.

In pricing plans for this year, Aetna also assumed its medical costs would grow by roughly 8%, a slightly higher rate than in 2010, Bertolini said, citing unusually low demand for health-care services last year tied partly to a relatively light flu season and high unemployment.

-By Dinah Wisenberg Brin, Dow Jones Newswires; 215-982-5582; dinah.brin@dowjones.com
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