Molina Healthcare Responds to Monday's Acquisition of Amerigroup by WellPoint Health

Molina Healthcare

issued the following statement Monday in response to Wellpoint's

acquisition of Amerigroup

: "Less than a decade ago, managing care for state Medicaid programs represented a new frontier in the health care field. Now, the upcoming expansion of the Medicaid program and the trend of states moving dually eligible patients into managed health programs confirm that the opportunities in this sector are abundant. For over 30 years, we have focused exclusively on serving patients who qualify for government-sponsored health care, which gives us a unique advantage in making this expansion as smooth as possible for new beneficiaries, providers and our state partners. We continue to prepare for the influx of new Medicaid members in 2014 and to evaluate new markets and populations, remaining true to our mission of providing high quality health care to those who most need it and are least able to afford it." Molina Healthcare finished at $27.12 Monday, a gain of 17.56% on more than 3 times average volume.