Hartford, CT-based Aetna Inc.'s fourth-quarter earnings fell 15%, despite prior-year investment losses, as the health insurer continued to feel the effects of inadequate pricing that battered its underwriting margins. Aetna also projected a decline in 2010 earnings. The outlook follows a 2009 in which Aetna's medical costs outpaced premium increases, and the health insurance industry felt pressures from the broad economic downturn, the Wall Street Journal reports.
