But while big insurers like UnitedHealth Group and Aetna have already largely abandoned the individual marketplaces, Molina Healthcare<br />has been a mainstay of the current federal health care law, offering Medicaid plans in 12 states and Puerto Rico.<br />“I think many in the industry are afraid,” said Dr. Molina, who said he decided to speak out after being<br />urged to by two close friends, one a retired insurance executive and another an AIDS advocate.<br />Still, Congress has an important negotiating tool: a key program<br />that helps low-income individuals with out-of-pocket costs, known technically as “cost-sharing reductions.” House Republicans brought a lawsuit to stop what it claimed was illegal funding of the program, worth $7 billion to the insurers last year.<br />The Senate has yet to debate measures that could deeply affect insurers, and Molina Healthcare just reported to investors last month<br />that it lost hundreds of millions of dollars in 2016 because of what Dr. Molina, its chief executive, called flawed federal funding formulas.
