If something good can be said about Centene Corp., it must be that the Fortune 500 company knows how to spot a source of windfall. Centene knows how to game the system, like taking advantage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to rake in hundreds of millions of dollars. Thanks to Obamacare, Centene continues to make bank.
But it came as no surprise that while the insurer is padding up its treasury, it’s deliberate in the effort to minimize the services rendered. That amounts to ingenious cost-cutting, which is indeed good business but undoubtedly bad for customer satisfaction.
To be sure, Centene’s brand is not about the delivery of adequate service to policyholders. As consistently articulated by Centene CEO Michael Neidorff, the focus of its operation is to grow the business, and everything else is a mere collateral concern. How Centene leverages its position in the ACA marketplace is a powerful testimony to this ruthless objective.
Obamacare Brings Hundreds Of Millions To Centene Coffers
The very essence of Obamacare is to encourage a marker of health plans that are high-quality and affordable. Insurance buyers can get cheap products because of government subsidies, and Centene has been packaging its products as such and with great success.
Boosted by this approach, Centene realized a profit of $280 million in 2018, a remarkable jump of $120 million from the previous year. As Neidorff sounded off, his firm has been doing well courtesy of ACA, and the chief executive vowed that the good fortune would be paid back by a service that is beyond reproach.
It was an empty promise, however, that Neidorff made. Centene failed to live up to the high expectations as the number of dissatisfied customers started piling up. Policyholders soon realized that the money they paid for did not buy them even decent service. Centene increased its earnings, but the manner it rendered services is best described as inversely proportional.
The Disaster That Customers Face
When the time came for policyholders to enjoy their coverage benefits, they were instead met by a series of frustrations. For the most part, customers could not find sufficient network providers using Centene’s ACA products. There were occasions that the coverage cannot be accessed due to standards not in sync with ACA. And the list of problems only started to expand.
Customers reported of listed doctors refusing treatments that the ACA covered. Then the disappointment mounts as even Centene’s network of healthcare providers rejected claims of essential services. In the end, the disgruntled ACA buyers had no recourse but to seek legal remedy. Some of these suits led to compensations ordered by the court. The legal skirmishes are happening while Centene continues to advertise that its ACA-focused business has been a success.
True, the insurer is making hundreds of millions through the Obamacare scheme, but it’s hard to see how it can claim success on the push when customers are unhappy and bringing the company to court. Class action lawsuits have been filed before the District Court of Washington, and complaints are building up at the Office of Insurance Commission (OIC).
Meanwhile, Neidorff remained fixated on his growth projection and revealed Centene would bring its ACA offering to 10 more states across America. The CEO is upbeat that the 2020 figures will exceed that of the previous years, thanks in part to Obamacare. Ironically, Centene is earning big on ACA while making a huge joke of the act’s fundamental principles.
