Centene Sinks as Membership Decline Deepens on ACA Subsidy Lapse

Shares of Centene Corp. sank on Tuesday after the health insurer flagged rising medical costs and declining membership, adding to an already cautious outlook for the industry.

Centene said it expects enrollment in the Affordable Care Act marketplace will decline by about 35% or more across the industry after some federal ACA subsidies expired. It sees its own membership potentially dropping even faster. The company’s membership dropped from 5.5 million in December to 3.6 million in February, a decline that CEO Sarah London said was “in line with our expectations.”

“Our view was that the market would shrink somewhere between ...