Molina Health CEO Says GOP Health Bill 'Poorly Drafted'
Mar.09 -- J. Mario Molina, Molina Healthcare chief executive officer, comments on the American Health Care Act. He speaks with Bloomberg's David Gura on "Bloomberg Markets."
President, Chief Executive Officer & Director, Molina Healthcare
Search every verified Joseph Zubretsky interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote โ each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In March 2017, Molina Healthcare CEO J. Mario Molina criticized the American Health Care Act, the Republican-backed bill to replace the Affordable Care Act. He described it as a "poorly drafted piece of legislation" that was "being rushed through Congress," and stated that the insurance industry was not consulted during its drafting. Molina predicted that 15 to 20 million Americans would lose coverage, particularly those who gained it through Medicaid expansion, and that premiums would increase significantly, with increases "as large or larger than what we saw last year." He argued that the bill would destabilize the individual market by removing the individual mandate and that provisions allowing the sale of insurance across state lines would "do a lot of damage to consumers." Molina also expressed concern about the shift of Medicaid from a federal program to the states, stating that it would force a choice between funding Medicaid and education, with a "huge ripple effect through the entire economy." He noted that the bill was opposed by doctors, hospitals, seniors, and governors from both parties, and he encouraged people to contact their representatives and governors to voice their concerns.
“I think this is a poorly drafted piece of legislation and it's being rushed through Congress.”
“As far as I know the insurance industry was not invited to participate in this so we've had no input and that's kind of extraordinary.”
“15 to 20 million Americans are going to lose their coverage โ those who got coverage under the ACA through Medicaid expansion.”
“Doctors don't like this bill, hospitals don't like this bill, seniors don't like this bill, Republican Governors don't like this bill and Democratic Governors don't like this bill โ so I'm not quite sure who benefits from this legislation.”
“I think the first thing it's going to do is it's going to just destabilize the individual insurance market by removing the individual mandate โ insurers are going to be concerned that people will wait until they're sick to buy insurance and that's going to mean they're going to raise premiums.”
“The premium increases you're going to see for 2018 if this bill passes are going to be as large or larger than what we saw last year โ and last year it averaged 25%.”
“We are a company that ensures low-income Americans and we now cover a million people through the marketplace ... the risk transfer formula penalizes companies that have low premiums and are efficient โ those things work against us.”
“If you're earning $22 or $23,000 a year you're going to look at this and say I can't afford to spend $1,700 to buy insurance โ so I think people will lose coverage.”
“The barrier to providing insurance in multiple states is not the law โ the issue is getting contracts and developing the provider network. I don't think offering coverage across state lines is an improvement and in fact I think it's going to do a lot of damage to consumers.”
“Medicaid is going to be shifted from a federal program to the states and the two things that states have to provide are Medicaid and education โ people are going to start arguing about do we fund Medicaid or do we fund education. This is going to have a huge ripple effect through the entire economy: hospitals are going...”
Mar.09 -- J. Mario Molina, Molina Healthcare chief executive officer, comments on the American Health Care Act. He speaks with Bloomberg's David Gura on "Bloomberg Markets."
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