Centene to offer buyouts to some employees
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Centene said Monday it was offering buyouts to some employees as the health insurer grappled with higher medical costs, funding cuts and membership declines.
“Centene positions the company to lead the future of healthcare by working to deliver a simpler and better experience for our members and partners while meeting the realities of today’s healthcare environment,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. “Today, we announced the Voluntary Separation Program to support employees who are considering a transition.”
The company did not say how many employees were offered buyouts or how much it aims to reduce its workforce. Shares initially fell 4 percent after Bloomberg first reported News on Monday.
According to Bloomberg, if the company cannot meet its voluntary separation target, layoffs may occur.
Centene is the largest provider of Medicaid and other federal health plans through the Affordable Care Act. The acquisitions come after the company reported a 6% year-over-year decline in membership in the first quarter, to 26.3 million, according to a filing.
Centene’s ACA business lost nearly 2 million members in the first quarter compared to the end of 2025; this was primarily because Congress allowed enhanced federal subsidies in the program to expire at the beginning of the year. The company expects ACA membership to fall by about 40% by the end of 2026, executives said at a Barclays conference in March.
Centene is bracing for the impact of more than $900 billion in cuts to Medicaid over a decade, and the insurance industry overall is still managing higher-than-expected medical costs in privately operated Medicare plans.
