American-managed healthcare insurance company
Molina Healthcare, Inc. is a managed care company headquartered in Long Beach, California, United States. The company provides health insurance to individuals through government programs such as Medicaid and Medicare.
History.
Molina Healthcare was founded in 1980 by C. David Molina, an emergency room physician in Long Beach, California. He had seen an influx of patients using the emergency room for common illnesses such as a sore throat or the flu because they were being turned away by doctors who would not accept Medi-Cal. Molina established his first primary care clinic with the goal of treating the lowest-income patients, regardless of their ability to pay. 
In September 2020, Molina Healthcare entered into an arrangement to purchase approximately all the assets of the Affinity Health Plan for about $380 million.
Leadership.
For twenty years, the company was run by Dr. Molina's son, J. Mario Molina, MD, a physician. He was the president and CEO of the company. John Molina, Mario's younger brother, was the CFO of Molina Healthcare. The two took over Molina's operations after their father died in 1996 and continued to expand the company. In May 2017 J. Mario and John were removed from their positions by the Board of Directors, who cited poor financial performance as the reason for the change in leadership. In October 2017 the company announced Joseph Zubretsky, the former CFO of Aetna, as Molina Healthcare's president and CEO.
Clinics.
The first Molina Medical clinic was opened in Wilmington, California in 1980. The company formerly operated clinics in Washington, New Mexico, Florida and Utah. The clinics were opened to provide health care to low-income families and individuals. In August 2017 Molina Healthcare announced it would close several clinics in Michigan, Florida, New Mexico, Wisconsin, and Utah.
Becoming HMO.
Molina Healthcare has focused on government-paid healthcare programs such as SCHIP and Medicaid since it became a health maintenance organization in 1985. From 1985 to 1997, the company was based solely in California.
Going public.
Molina Healthcare filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial stock offering in December 2002 and went public in July 2003 with a stock offering of $102 million. The shares were priced at $17.50, and Molina raised approximately $124 million in the initial public offering. In its stock market debut, Molina sold 6.6 million shares at $20.30, making the company the third-best first day gainer of 2003. Molina Healthcare was the first company from "Inc. Magazine"'s "Inner City 100" list to go public.
Entering the Medicare market.
Molina Healthcare entered the Medicare market in 2006. The company currently offers Medicare health plan options in: Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
Entering MMIS market.
Molina Healthcare acquired Unisys' health information management business in December 2010 to create Molina Medicaid Solutions (MMS). MMS has Medicaid Management Information Systems (MMIS) contracts with Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, New Jersey, West Virginia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In Autumn 2018, Molina Healthcare, Inc. sold its Medicaid management information systems business, Molina Medicaid Solutions (MMS), to DXC Technology. MMS was a wholly owned subsidiary of Molina Healthcare at the time of sale.
Entering health insurance marketplace.
In 2014, Molina Healthcare began offering Marketplace plans in nine states where it offered Medicaid health plans through State Facilitated Marketplaces and Federally Facilitated Marketplace. On November 16, 2016 the Seattle Times reported that about 11 million people currently get their coverage through the exchange. In August 2017 Molina announced it would stop offering plans on the health insurance marketplaces in Utah, Wisconsin, and Maine in 2018.
Dual eligible demonstration projects.
Molina was selected to participate in dual eligible demonstration projects in California, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, South Carolina and Texas to serve patients who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid.
Criticism and controversies.
A 2023 report investigating "High Rates of Prior
Authorization Denials" reported that Molina Healthcare's Medicaid plans for financially vulnerable people had some of the highest denial percentages in the country. It was reported, that Molina Healthcare operated plans that denied medical care under requests for prior authorization of services in more than 25% of cases in 2019. About 2.7 million people were enrolled in these plans at the time, while another 8.4 million people were enrolled in plans with denial rates higher than average at 15-25%. Some plans had even higher denial rates, as their Illinois plan 41% of requests.
Philanthropy.
In May 2022, MolinaCares presented a $100,000 grant to support Compass Health's Broadway Campus Redevelopment Project. The grant will aid funding of construction of a 72,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art facility that will expand community-based behavioural health care services and its workforce in northwest Washington.
Awards and recognition.
Molina Healthcare was awarded the 2011 Alfred P. Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility. The award ranked Molina Healthcare in the top 20 percent of employers nationally in terms of its programs, policies and culture for creating an effective and flexible workplace. In 2006, Molina Healthcare was named among the 100 best corporate citizens by "Business Ethics" magazine. In 2005, "Time" magazine recognized Dr. J. Mario Molina, then CEO of Molina Healthcare, as one of the 25 most influential Hispanics in America.
The company ranked 155th on the 2021 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by revenue. The company ranked 126th on the 2023 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by revenue.
References.
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