The CEO of Long Beach, Calif.-based Molina Healthcare has denounced Republicans' American Health Care Act, and is one of the only insurers to publicly raise concerns about the bill's potential affect on payers and patients, The New York Times reports.
Here are four things to know about Molina Healthcare's criticism of the AHCA.
1. J. Mario Molina, MD, CEO of Molina, has cautioned Congressional legislators that the GOP health bill could take health insurance away from Molina's customers and disrupt the payer industry.
2. The AHCA proposes federal funding caps to Medicaid and age-based — rather than income-based — subsidies for individuals buying health coverage through exchanges established under the ACA. Those changes could significantly affect Molina, as the insurer covers approximately 1 million Americans on plans sold through the ACA exchanges and offers Medicaid coverage in 12 states and Puerto Rico, the report states.
3. Dr. Molina told the NYT if the individual exchange market is further destabilized in 2018, the blame "really falls on the Republicans. The administration and Congress have the ability to act in ways to stabilize the market."
4. Larger payers, like Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna and Minnetonka, Minn.-based UnitedHealth group, have already left the individual exchanges. During the Molina's fourth quarter earnings call, Dr. Molina said they payer cannot commit to the exchanges beyond 2017 because "there are simply too many unknowns with the marketplace program."
Sabrina Corlette, a Washington, D.C.-based Georgetown University research professor, told the NYT a Molina exit "would be hugely damaging" to the market.
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