Molina Healthcare of Ohio Receives Preliminary Notification of Four Ohio Medicaid Contract Awards.

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Molina Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE: MOH) announced today that its health plan subsidiary in Ohio, Molina Healthcare of Ohio, Inc., has been selected to proceed into the readiness review phase in all four regions of the state for which it had submitted applications. The selection of Molina Healthcare of Ohio was made by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) in connection with its statewide expansion of Ohio's Medicaid managed care program. In response to the Request for Applications (RFA) issued on November 30, 2005, Molina Healthcare of Ohio submitted applications to provide healthcare services to Covered Families and Children (CFC) Medicaid eligibles in the Central, Southeast, Southwest and West Central regions of Ohio. ODJFS selected Molina Healthcare of Ohio to participate in each of these four regions. To be considered for selection, applicants had to pass a Mandatory Applications Requirement Review by ODJFS and be scored on the following components: experience and compliance history, administration, performance improvement and clinical management, information systems, HIPAA and a region-specific provider panel. No price bid was involved.

Prior to receiving a provider agreement, Molina Healthcare of Ohio must complete by July 31, 2006, a comprehensive pre-contracting assessment, or readiness review, in order to ensure that it is capable and prepared to meet all ODJFS program requirements. If Molina Healthcare of Ohio is successful in completing the readiness review, it anticipates enrollment in the relevant regions to begin in the third quarter of 2006.

Molina Healthcare of Ohio currently operates as a health plan in Clark, Franklin and Montgomery counties. The four new regions for which Molina has been selected comprise 47 additional counties, including 18 counties in the Central region, 16 counties in the Southeast region, 8 counties in the Southwest region and 8 counties in the West Central region.

About Molina Healthcare, Inc.

Molina Healthcare, Inc. is a multi-state managed care organization that arranges for the delivery of healthcare services to persons eligible for Medicaid and other programs for low-income families and individuals. Molina Healthcare, Inc. currently operates health plans in California, Indiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio, Utah, and Washington. Additional information about Molina Healthcare can be found at www.molinahealthcare.com.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains "forward-looking statements" identified by words such as "anticipates" and similar words and expressions. All of the Company's forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Such factors include, without limitation, risks related to the successful and timely completion of the pre-contracting assessment and readiness review by Molina Healthcare of Ohio, the satisfaction of all ODJFS program requirements, and other risks and uncertainties as detailed in the reports and filings of Molina Healthcare, Inc. with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on its website at www.sec.gov. Molina Healthcare disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.