Centene To Buy New York Health Plan For $3.7 Billion

Health insurer Centene, one of the larger and more successful players on public exchanges under the Affordable Care Act, said Tuesday it will buy Fidelis Care in a move to expand statewide into New York.

Unlike rivals like Aetna, Anthem, UnitedHealth Group and Humana, Centene is expanding into new markets and has been able to successfully manage the costs of sick uninsured Americans buying individual policies on the ACA’s public exchanges. Centene had nearly 1.1 million customers enrolled in plans purchased on the ACA’s marketplaces as of June 30 compared to 617,700 at the same time last year and is expanding into several new states.




Michael Neidorff, chairman and chief executive officer of Centene Corp., center, and Bernard Tyson, chief executive officer of Kaiser Permanente, left, wait to go through security near the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013. (Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)

In Fidelis, Centene will buy an established player in New York’s Obamacare, Medicaid and Medicare Advantage markets . Fidelis had more than 1.6 million health plan members as of June 30 and nearly $5 billion in revenue for the first half of this year, the companies said.


The deal will turn Centene into a larger national player with $60 billion in annual revenue by next year assuming Centene's acquisition of the nonprofit insurer's assets closes Jan. 1, 2018. New York is the nation's second-largest managed-care market.

"Centene's and Fidelis Care's missions are fully aligned in terms of promoting health through high quality, accessible care and services for all and advocating for health policy that accords true dignity and respect for all people, especially the underserved," Niedorff said in a statement. "Through this transaction we can further enhance the well-being of Fidelis Care's members and continue to build linkages and systems for the coordination of care and services among healthcare, behavioral and social services while doing so at an appropriate level of cost."