Some of the Affordable Care Act's insurance marketplaces have been in turmoil as the fourth open enrollment season approached this fall. What's ahead for consumers depended very much on where they live.

Competition on some exchanges will be diminished next year when three of the nation's largest health insurers, Aetna, UnitedHealthcare and Humana,  will sell individual plans in many fewer markets. The departure of several Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in various states will be also affected. These pullbacks also came on top of the closure of 16 nonprofit co-ops, another coverage option, since January 2015.

Aetna's exit announcement on Monday that blamed financial losses on its marketplace plans gave Obamacare opponents who have had been predicting from the start that the health law's failure has a fresh chance to proclaim, "I told you so."

Mark Bertolini, CEO of Aetna, told the Justice Department in July that the insurer would walk away from many health exchanges if the government opposes the company's proposed deal for Humana.

By Prakriti Neogi