In Brief: Molina CEO Hedges On Future ACA Participation

Molina Healthcare Chief Executive Officer J. Mario Molina, M.D., hedged on whether his Long Beach-based Medicaid managed care plan would continue to offer insurance in various state exchanges beginning next year.

“There are just too many unknowns at this point to give a definitive answer,” Molina told the publication Axios earlier this week.

Molina made the remarks as part of an interview regarding an executive order President Donald Trump signed last week that appeared to give the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services some leeway in relaxing regulations surrounding the Affordable Care Act, including potentially eliminating the individual mandate's tax penalty for failing to obtain health insurance.

Molina told the publication that the executive order was “symbolic,” but his other remarks suggest the deep misgivings many in the healthcare sector have about the yet-to-appear Republican proposals to repeal and replace the ACA.

Molina has reaped extensive benefits from the ACA, having its Medicaid enrollment balloon to more than 3 million across the country since expansion of that program under the ACA began three years ago. Among the few concrete proposals around replacement legislation is the block-granting of Medicaid funding to states, which is expected to cut enrollment by millions. Molina said what happens to the Medicaid program is likely to be heavily influenced by the input of state governors. Thirty-one states have expanded Medicaid eligibility under the ACA, including several states with GOP-dominated legislatures.