Corporate Research Group’s Weblog

As we pointed out in a prior post, Wall Street has viewed the positive third-quarter results at Centene Corp. as something of an outlier given the poor performance of other pure-play Medicaid plans such as Amerigroup and Molina.  That characterization has clearly gotten under the skin of Centene chief executive Michael Neidorff, who defends the company’s performance and prospects.  “We call it as we see it….We’re a managed care company.  We’re not a victim,” Neidorff told attendees at the 20th annual Oppenheimer Healthcare Conference in New York, adding,  “I think there are a couple of other people that are outliers, not us.”  Centene senior vice president of finance Ed Kroll noted, for example, that the company is doing a good job of projecting flu costs, which tripped up Amerigroup and Molina.  He also said the company has done a better job than its peers in accruing for experience-related rebates in Texas.  While he acknowledged the tight environment for state Medicaid reimbursement rates, he said the company has visibility well into 2010 for 2% to 3% rate increases in Texas, Florida and Georgia.  “The word out there seems to be that we’re in denial,” Kroll said, adding, “Not all health plans are created equal.”