Bruce Japsen Senior Contributor Apr 27, 2021,08:52am EDT
Centene added 1.3 million health plan
members in the first quarter of this year on strong growth of
its Medicaid business, boosting profits the company said would grow throughout
the rest of the year.
The health insurer, which
is one of the nation’s largest providers of government subsidized health
benefits, has seen an uptick in members as it adds more state contracts
providing coverage for poor Americans. In addition, Centene has seen more
people sign up for Medicaid after losing their jobs in the last year due to
poor economic times during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Centene ended the first
quarter with 25.1 million health plan members thanks largely to growth in
Medicaid which company chief executive officer Michael Neidorff on Tuesday said
would continue throughout 2021. The Medicaid enrollment increase helped
Centene’s net income jump to $699 million in the first quarter compared to $46
million in the year-ago period. Revenues were up 15% to $30 billion.
“We started the year
strong and look forward to carrying on this momentum,” Neidorff told analysts
Tuesday morning during a call to discuss first quarter earnings.
Centene has already been
growing into a larger company as Americans sign up for Medicaid, the health
insurance for low-income Americans it manages via contracts with states and
individual coverage under the Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare. And
Centene has been expanding into the business of Medicare Advantage, the
privatized health benefits myriad health insurers offer senior via contract
with the federal government.
Centene expects to add
thousands of new members to its Obamacare plans this year after the Biden
administration opened and extended to August 15 a special enrollment period for
such coverage.
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