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rye said it offered buyouts to some employees on Monday, as the health insurer grapples with higher medical costs, funding cuts and membership declines.
“Centene is positioning the company to lead the future of healthcare, working to deliver a better, simpler 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 a Voluntary Separation Program to support employees who may be considering a transition.”
The company did not say how many employees were offered buyouts or how much it intends to reduce its workforce. Shares initially fell 4% after Bloomberg first reported the news on Monday.
Layoffs could occur if the company does not meet the goal of voluntary separations, Bloomberg reported.
Centene is the largest Medicaid provider and focuses on other federal health plans through Medicare and the Affordable Care Act. The purchases come after the company reported a decline in membership in the first quarter, down 6% year over year to 26.3 million, according to a filing.
Centene's ACA business lost about 2 million members in the first quarter compared to the end of 2025, primarily because Congress allowed enhanced federal subsidies in the program to expire at the beginning of the year. In March, the company also said it expects ACA membership to fall nearly 40% by the end of 2026, executives said in March at a Barclays conference.
Centene is bracing for the impact of more than $900 billion in Medicaid cuts over a decade, and the insurance industry overall is still seeing higher-than-expected medical costs in privately managed Medicare plans.
