Obamacare Leads Centene To $1.3 Billion Profit And A 2025 Revenue Boost

Centene reported first quarter profits of $1.3 billion as membership and premium revenue grew thanks to a big increase in Obamacare enrollment, the health insurer said Friday.

Centene’s enrollment in individual coverage under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, grew what the company calls its “commercial marketplace” business by 29% to 5.6 million members from 4.3 million a year-ago. That increase of more than 1 million health plan members helped overcome a decrease of more than 330,000 enrollees in Medicaid coverage for poor Americans that Centene administers.

The big jump in Obamacare enrollees triggered Centene to increase its 2025 premium and service revenues guidance range by $6 billion to a range of $164 billion to $166 billion for 2025. Much of that increase, or $5 billion, is additional “marketplace premium revenue due to outperformance in enrollment throughout the first quarter,” Centene, which sells an array of government subsidized health benefits, said. Meanwhile, Centene said “outperformance in the Medicare Advantage annual enrollment period” will add $1 billion of additional premium revenue.

In the first quarter of this year, Centene’s net income rose to $1.3 billion, or $2.63 per share, compared to $1.1 billion, or $2.16 in the year-ago period.

“For the first quarter of 2025, premium and service revenues increased 17% to $42.5 billion from $36.3 billion in the comparable period of 2024,” Centene said in its earnings report. “The increase was primarily driven by premium and membership growth in the (prescription drug plan) business along with strong product positioning and overall market growth in the marketplace business.”

Centene, which is also a big national player in providing Medicaid benefits to poor Americans, saw Medicaid enrollment drop slightly to 12.9 million compared to 13.3 million in the year ago.

Centene’s earnings report comes amid escalating debate in Washington about potential cuts by Republicans in Congress and the Donald Trump White House to government-subsidized health benefits including Medicaid coverage for poor Americans, Obamacare and Medicare health coverage for seniors.

“Our first quarter results demonstrate the resiliency of Centene’s platform and the progress we are making as an organization while navigating a dynamic policy landscape,” said Centene’s chief executive officer Sarah M. London. “We are pleased to reiterate our full year 2025 adjusted diluted earnings per share outlook of greater than $7.25 and continue to see attractive opportunities to grow from the strength of our core businesses in the years to come.”