Centene’s profit is $1.1 billion, while Obamacare offsets the drop in Medicaid

Centene reported second-quarter profits of $1.1 billion, as Obamacare enrollment and premium revenues helped overcome a big dip in Medicaid enrollment.

Centene, which sells a range of government-subsidized health insurance, including Medicaid coverage and individual commercial insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare, said total managed care membership remained stable at 28.47 million, compared to 28.41 million at the end of the second quarter of 2023.

Centene’s entry into individual coverage under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, grew what Centene calls its “commercial marketplace” business to 4.4 million members, up from nearly 3.3 million a year ago. That increase of more than one million health plan members helped overcome a nearly 3 million decline in enrollment in Centene’s Medicaid plans for poor Americans.

Growth in the commercial market, or Obamacare, helped boost “premium and service revenues” by 3% to $36 billion, from $34.8 billion in the second quarter of 2023. “The increase was primarily driven by membership growth in the Marketplace business due to strong product positioning as well as overall market growth and outperformance in Marketplace risk adjustment for benefit year 2023, partially offset by recent divestitures in the Other segment and lower Medicaid membership primarily due to reallocations,” says Centene. said in its earnings statement.

Centene, one of the nation’s largest providers of Medicaid benefits to poor Americans in contracts with states, saw its Medicaid enrollment drop to 13.1 million from 16 million last year, thanks in large part to the end of the health emergency. field of public health.

America’s public health emergency kept a record number of people under coverage by not kicking anyone off Medicaid, while Congress and the Biden administration increased and expanded subsidies so more Americans could afford individual Obamacare coverage under the Affordable Care Act. That has helped Centene grow its overall health insurance enrollment.

Enrollment numbers have been shifting nationally given the May 2023 end of the U.S. public health emergency, which increased the number of covered Americans when Medicaid rescheduling temporarily ended three years ago. Medicaid redetermination, also called Medicaid renewal or Medicaid recertification, is essentially when people are asked to demonstrate their eligibility for such coverage.

“While we have work to do in Medicaid as redeterminations ease, the overall performance of the diversified portfolio positions us to remain on track for 2024 adjusted diluted earnings per share,” said Sarah M. London, CEO of Centene . “At the same time, we continue to make significant progress in operations and quality, which positions us well to serve our members and deliver long-term profitable growth.”