By Amina Niasse
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Health insurer Centene’s Chief Executive Sarah London said on Friday that turnover in people enrolled in Medicaid plans had led to a shift in its membership health profile, to patients who were sicker, but stood by its 2024 earnings and cost forecasts.
Around 30% of Medicaid members who lost their membership when re-enrollment started last year had been taken off the list “inappropriately” and their return now is causing uncertainty for the health insurer, London said at a Bernstein investor conference.
The decline in enrolled members was also a factor, London added.
Chief Financial Officer Drew Asher said the company believed it could adjust its 2025 Medicaid contract bids for the change in use of health services.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, insurers were required to keep Medicaid members enrolled beginning March 2020. States began redetermining eligibility in 2023, following the termination of that policy, and the process is still underway for some.
In addition to Medicaid plans for people with low incomes, Centene manages health insurance plans for the U.S. Medicare program for people aged 65 and older or those with disabilities. Two-thirds of states for which the insurer manages coverage have completed their re-enrollment cycle, London said on the call.
(Reporting by Amina Niasse in New York and Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Caroline Humer and David Holmes)
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