Centene Corporation

Overview

Centene Corporation

type	Public
traded as	nyse: CNC S&P 500 component
founded	1984
founder	Elizabeth "Betty" Brinn
location city	Clayton, Missouri
location country	U.S.
industry	Managed healthcare Health insurance Pharmacy
services	Health care provider Pharmacy benefit manager
key people	Sarah London (CEO) Susan Smith (COO)
revenue	US$194.8 billion (2025)
operating income	US$-7.62 billion (2025)
net income	US$-6.67 billion (2025)
assets	US$76.75 billion (2025)
equity	US$20.03 billion (2025)
num employees	61,100 (2025)
footnotes	‡R1R‡

Centene Corporation is an American for-profit healthcare company that serves as an intermediary for government-sponsored and privately insured healthcare programs. Based in Clayton, Missouri, Centene ranked No. 23 on the 2025 Fortune 500.[2]

History

Centene was founded by Elizabeth Brinn as Managed Health Services in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1984.[3] After the death of Brinn, the non-profit organization was sold to investors. The proceeds went to the Betty Brinn Foundation, which became a major shareholder in Centene. In 1996, Michael Neidorff joined the company as chief executive.[4]

Centene went public in December 2001.[5] In 2006, the firm acquired US Script, a pharmacy benefits manager.

Controversies

In 2014, Fox News alleged that Superior HealthPlan of Texas denied coverage of an infant's surgery for brain cancer at Texas Children's Hospital. Superior HealthPlan is a joint venture of Centene and Community Health Centers Network LP, which provides services for Medicaid recipients.[37] The article reported that Superior HealthPlan had previously paid healthcare claims for the infant at the hospital, although Superior HealthPlan stated that it did not cover procedures at the facility.[38] Three days after the article was published, Superior HealthPlan reversed its decision and covered the surgery.[39]

In January 2018, a class action lawsuit accused Centene's Ambetter marketplace healthcare plans of misleading enrollees about plan benefits.[40][41] According to the lawsuit, people who bought Centene's plans had difficulty finding medical providers that accepted patients covered under Centene's policies.[42]

In December 2018, Centene was sued by two pension funds alleging that Centene's acquisition of Health Net resulted in damages to Centene and exposed the company to potential liability. The suit also alleged that Centene concealed that Health Net owed approximately $1B in past tax liabilities to California and was under investigation for Medicare fraud at the time of the acquisition.[43]

In 2022, Operose Health had almost 600,000 NHS patients and was the largest supplier of GP services to the NHS. It was accused of putting patients at risk by prioritising profit, specifically by hiring physician associates, because they were cheaper than GPs. At Operose practices the average number of full time equivalent GPs per patients is about half the average in English practices. Sir Sam Everington said he was worried to see physician associates saying they were not receiving the supervision they needed. The practice had a backlog of thousands of medical test results and hospital letters on their computer systems. Operose said 97% of its practices were rated "good" or "outstanding" by the Care Quality Commission.[44]

Centene Corporation

History

Business segments

Leaders

Controversies

Settlements

See also

External links

References