Molina announced Aug. 17 that its Nevada health plan subsidiary was awarded a Medicaid managed care contract from the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services.
The new four-year Medicaid contract, with a potential two-year extension, will start Jan. 1.
Under the new contract, Molina’s Nevada health plan will be one of four managed care organizations offering health care coverage to approximately 630,000 Medicaid beneficiaries in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, and Washoe County, which includes Reno.
Molina will also participate in the Nevada Silver State Health Insurance Exchange, the state's Obamacare exchange.
Funding for Molina’s coverage in Nevada is coming from three federal government programs: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and Medicaid expansion.
“We are honored that Nevada has awarded Molina the opportunity to serve the state’s most vulnerable citizens,” Joseph Zubretsky, Molina’s chief executive, said in the announcement. “Molina looks forward to advancing the state’s goals of improving care management, member access and overall health equity for its Medicaid members.”
According to website Healthmanagement.com, which reviewed the request for proposals issued by the Nevada Health and Human Services Department, each contract awarded is worth about $2 billion a year.
Molina was competing against three incumbent health insurance giants: Minnetonka, Minn.-based UnitedHealth Group; Indianapolis-based Anthem Inc.; and St. Louis-based Centene Corp. All three won repeat awards; Molina edged in as the fourth health insurer, in part because Nevada expanded its Medicaid program, adding roughly 30,000 eligible low-income residents in the two counties these contracts serve.
