ST. LOUIS, May 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Centene
Corporation (NYSE: CNC), which offers Medicare Advantage plans
nationally through the WellCare and Allwell brands and locally
through the Health Net brand, announced new efforts to help support
its nearly 1 million Medicare Advantage members during the COVID-19
pandemic.
Beyond COVID-19-related testing and treatment, the company is
waiving all cost sharing for in-network primary care, behavioral
health, and telehealth visits for the remainder of the calendar
year. WellCare is also offering its Community Connections Help
Line, available to anyone in need of help beyond medical care, as
well as expanded benefits including extended meal program benefits,
over-the-counter (OTC) allowances, and annual wellness visit
incentives to help members in need of extra support.
"We believe the last thing people should be worried about during
this pandemic is their healthcare," said Michael Polen, Senior Vice President and Chief
Executive Officer, Medicare Solutions. "We want our senior members
and other vulnerable populations to know they're covered."
Eliminating Out-of-Pocket Costs, Increasing Access to
Care
In March, Centene announced it would waive
pre-authorizations, co-pays, and other costs related to COVID-19
testing and medically necessary treatment through the end of 2020.
The company also announced it was waiving prescription refill
limits, and members would be able to refill prescriptions prior to
their refill date.
The company will now waive in-network primary care costs for all
primary care visits, as well as the costs for outpatient,
non-facility-based behavioral health visits. It is also extending
telehealth cost share waivers for all telehealth visits—PCP and
specialty—including behavioral health, for in-network providers
through 2020. Medicare members with state benefits will continue to
receive support through coordination with their states.
"These actions are the latest in a series of efforts we are
taking to help our members manage their conditions and access
needed care during the pandemic," said Polen. "As many states begin
to lift shelter-in-place orders and reopen the healthcare system,
we want to help our members stay safe while removing any unneeded
financial burdens to accessing care."
Addressing Social Determinants of Health
As seniors
face increased social and economic barriers to care amid the
pandemic, the company is also offering a number of expanded
benefits to help seniors address issues such as food insecurity,
out-of-pocket medical costs, and medication assistance.
WellCare's Community Connections Help Line – a toll-free line
available to anyone in need – is staffed by peer coaches and
support specialists who can refer individuals and caregivers in
need to a database of more than half a million social services in
local communities across the country.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, WellCare's Help Line has
fielded nearly 3,000 calls from individuals with Medicare.
Between March 8 and May 8, WellCare
found the most requested services from these callers included food
assistance (29%), medication assistance (19%), utilities assistance
(11%), housing (10%) and transportation (7%).
More specifically, many seniors report they are worried about
paying their medical bills and affording food during the pandemic.
Nearly half (40%) report it is difficult to pay their current
medical bills, while 60% report they are worried about running out
of food before having enough money to buy more.
"It's difficult to prioritize your health and healthcare when
you don't have access to healthy food or the ability to pay your
bills," said Polen. "We want to do everything we can to eliminate
those social determinants of health – social and economic factors
that can have a major impact on overall health and wellbeing –
especially during this challenging time."
To help further remove any financial or food-related barriers to
care, Medicare Advantage members may be eligible for the following
expanded benefits for the remainder of 2020:
- Extended Meal Benefits – Members eligible for meal
benefits due to a chronic condition or recent discharge may receive
an additional 14 meals delivered to their home at no cost.
- Annual Wellness Visit Incentives – Members will be
eligible for an increased incentive for completing their Annual
Wellness Visits, a benefit offered at no cost to the member.
- Additional Over-The-Counter (OTC) Benefits – Plans with
an OTC benefit may now receive additional allowance dollars in
monthly or quarterly increments, adding up to as much as
$150 for the remainder of 2020,
depending on plan.
Centene and WellCare are committed to ensuring continuity of
care and services for members and local communities during the
COVID-19 pandemic. To learn more, visit www.WellCareCares.com.
About Centene Corporation
Centene Corporation, a
Fortune 100 company, is a leading multi-national healthcare
enterprise that is committed to helping people live healthier
lives. The company takes a local approach – with local brands and
local teams - to provide fully integrated, high-quality, and
cost-effective services to government-sponsored and commercial
healthcare programs, focusing on under-insured and uninsured
individuals. Centene offers affordable and high-quality products to
nearly 1 in 15 individuals across the nation, including Medicaid
and Medicare members (including Medicare Prescription Drug Plans)
as well as individuals and families served by the Health Insurance
Marketplace, the TRICARE program, and individuals in correctional
facilities. The Company also serves several international markets,
and contracts with other healthcare and commercial organizations to
provide a variety of specialty services focused on treating the
whole person. Centene focuses on long-term growth and the
development of its people, systems and capabilities so that it can
better serve its members, providers, local communities, and
government partners.
Centene uses its investor relations website to publish important
information about the company, including information that may be
deemed material to investors. Financial and other information about
Centene is routinely posted and is accessible on Centene's investor
relations website, http://www.centene.com/investors.
Forward-Looking Statements
All statements, other
than statements of current or historical fact, contained in this
press release are forward-looking statements. Without limiting the
foregoing, forward-looking statements often use words such as
"believe," "anticipate," "plan," "expect," "estimate," "intend,"
"seek," "target," "goal," "may," "will," "would," "could,"
"should," "can," "continue" and other similar words or expressions
(and the negative thereof). Centene (the Company, our, or we)
intends such forward-looking statements to be covered by the
safe-harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and we are
including this statement for purposes of complying with these
safe-harbor provisions. In particular, these statements include,
without limitation, statements about our future operating or
financial performance, market opportunity, growth strategy,
competition, expected activities in completed and future
acquisitions, including statements about the impact of our recently
completed acquisition (the WellCare Acquisition) of WellCare Health
Plans, Inc. (WellCare), other recent and future acquisitions,
investments and the adequacy of our available cash resources. These
forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect
to future events and are based on numerous assumptions and
assessments made by us in light of our experience and perception of
historical trends, current conditions, business strategies,
operating environments, future developments and other factors we
believe appropriate. By their nature, forward-looking statements
involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are subject
to change because they relate to events and depend on circumstances
that will occur in the future, including economic, regulatory,
competitive and other factors that may cause our or our industry's
actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to
be materially different from any future results, levels of
activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these
forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of
future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and
assumptions. All forward-looking statements included in this press
release are based on information available to us on the date
hereof. Except as may be otherwise required by law, we undertake no
obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements
included in this press release, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise, after the date hereof. You
should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements,
as actual results may differ materially from projections,
estimates, or other forward-looking statements due to a variety of
important factors, variables and events including but not limited
to: the impact of COVID-19 on global markets, economic conditions
and the healthcare industry and our results of operations, which is
unknown, uncertainty as to our expected financial performance
following completion and integration of the WellCare Acquisition;
the possibility that the expected synergies and value creation from
the WellCare Acquisition will not be realized, or will not be
realized within the expected time period; the risk that unexpected
costs will be incurred in connection with the integration of the
WellCare Acquisition or that the integration of WellCare will be
more difficult or time consuming than expected; unexpected costs,
charges or expenses resulting from the WellCare Acquisition; the
inability to retain key personnel; disruption from the completion
of the WellCare Acquisition, including potential adverse reactions
or changes to business relationships with customers, employees,
suppliers or regulators, making it more difficult to maintain
business and operational relationships; the risk that we may not be
able to effectively manage our expanded operations; our ability to
accurately predict and effectively manage health benefits and other
operating expenses and reserves; competition; membership and
revenue declines or unexpected trends; changes in healthcare
practices, new technologies, and advances in medicine; increased
healthcare costs; changes in economic, political or market
conditions; changes in federal or state laws or regulations,
including changes with respect to income tax reform or government
healthcare programs as well as changes with respect to the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and
Education Affordability Reconciliation Act, collectively referred
to as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and any regulations enacted
thereunder that may result from changing political conditions or
judicial actions, including the ultimate outcome in "Texas v.
United States of America"
regarding the constitutionality of the ACA; rate cuts or other
payment reductions or delays by governmental payors and other risks
and uncertainties affecting our government businesses; our ability
to adequately price products on the Health Insurance Marketplaces
and other commercial and Medicare products; tax matters; disasters
or major epidemics; the outcome of legal and regulatory
proceedings; changes in expected contract start dates; provider,
state, federal and other contract changes and timing of regulatory
approval of contracts; the expiration, suspension, or termination
of our contracts with federal or state governments (including but
not limited to Medicaid, Medicare, TRICARE or other customers); the
difficulty of predicting the timing or outcome of pending or future
litigation or government investigations; challenges to our contract
awards; cyber-attacks or other privacy or data security incidents;
the possibility that the expected synergies and value creation from
acquired businesses, including businesses we may acquire in the
future, will not be realized, or will not be realized within the
expected time period; the exertion of management's time and our
resources, and other expenses incurred and business changes
required in connection with complying with the undertakings in
connection with any regulatory, governmental or third party
consents or approvals for acquisitions; disruption caused by
significant completed and pending acquisitions, including, among
others, the WellCare Acquisition, making it more difficult to
maintain business and operational relationships; the risk that
unexpected costs will be incurred in connection with the completion
and/or integration of acquisition transactions; changes in expected
closing dates, estimated purchase price and accretion for
acquisitions; the risk that acquired businesses will not be
integrated successfully; the risk that we may not be able to
effectively manage our operations as they have expanded as a result
of the WellCare Acquisition; restrictions and limitations in
connection with our indebtedness; our ability to maintain or
achieve improvement in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS) Star ratings and maintain or achieve improvement in
other quality scores in each case that can impact revenue and
future growth; availability of debt and equity financing, on terms
that are favorable to us; inflation; foreign currency fluctuations;
and risks and uncertainties discussed in the reports that Centene
has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This list of
important factors is not intended to be exhaustive. We discuss
certain of these matters more fully, as well as certain other
factors that may affect our business operations, financial
condition and results of operations, in our filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including our annual
report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current
reports on Form 8-K. Due to these important factors and risks, we
cannot give assurances with respect to our future performance,
including without limitation our ability to maintain adequate
premium levels or our ability to control our future medical and
selling, general and administrative costs.
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SOURCE Centene Corporation