The former CEO of health insurer Molina on Tuesday cast most of the blame for Obamacare’s rate increases and insurer exits on Republicans and the Trump administration.
“The administration and Republicans in Congress want you to believe that insurers raising premiums for their plans or exiting the marketplaces all together are consequences of the design of the Affordable Care Act instead of the direct results of their own actions to sabotage the law,” said J. Mario Molina, in a U.S. News & World Report opinion piece. “Don’t let them fool you.”
He pointed to insurers’ intentions to leave the Obamacare exchanges or their requests to raise premiums by double digits, and how Republicans are using those actions to say that Obamacare is “failing” or in a “death spiral” to justify their plans to gut the law.
“That narrative is patently false,” he wrote. “In fact, most of the instability driving up premiums in the marketplace can be directly traced to Republicans’ efforts to undermine the healthcare law for their own political purposes.”
He cited past Republican actions to undermine Obamacare, including cutting funding for risk corridors, the Trump administration’s slowed outreach efforts on open enrollment during its final weeks, and President Trump’s unwillingness to commit to funding cost-sharing subsidies, which help reduce the cost of out-of-pocket medical expenses. Without the subsidies, insurers could raise their premiums for mid-level plans by an average of 20 percent next year or leave the exchanges as soon as they are able. Other insurers and independent experts have said that a mix of factors, including GOP-created uncertainty over the future of Obamacare, as well as the structure of the exchanges created under the law, are causing some of the issues related to Obamacare. Senate Republicans are working on a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare but also have talked about separate legislation that would stabilize the exchanges.
Molina, whose father founded the company, was fired from his role as CEO this month, as was his brother, John Molina, from his post as chief financial officer. Molina’s board cited “disappointing financial performance” as the reason for the firings, but the former CEO has suggested that his public statements about Obamacare may have contributed to the decision.
“I’ve been a very vocal critic of what’s going on in Washington,” he told Politico. “I know the other health plan executives have been afraid to speak out. Maybe they’re smarter than I am, but I’m not going to back off.”
