Health insurer Centene reported a $6.6 billion third-quarter loss as the company struggles to control rising healthcare costs in the government-subsidized health plans it administers and sells.
Centene’s results also reflect a large $6.7 billion goodwill impairment charge related to the dip in the company’s stock price this year and the coming impact of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act President Trump signed into law that will slash Medicaid spending. Centene administers Medicaid benefits for more than 12 million Americans.
In the future, the management of Medicaid patients may get even trickier for health insurers like Centene after Trump signed into law legislation that cuts $1 trillion from Medicaid and individual coverage under the Affordable Care Act that is expected to eliminate coverage for nearly 12 million Americans over the next decade, data from the Congressional Budget Office shows.
Analysts expect health insurers to find it more difficult to keep Americans signed up for Medicaid because the Trump-approved bill requires more eligibility checks and bureaucratic hurdles. These eligibility checks in the Medicaid program are called “redeterminations” and they are already to blame for millions of Americans falling off of Medicaid coverage following the end of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2023.
“As a result of market conditions in July 2025, including the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the decline in the company’s stock price, we performed a quantitative impairment analysis during the third quarter to determine whether goodwill was impaired,” Centene said in its third quarter earnings report unveiled Wednesday. “In October 2025, we completed our quantitative goodwill impairment analysis and recorded a non-cash goodwill impairment of $6.7 billion in the third quarter of 2025.”
Meanwhile, Centene, which has nearly 28 million health plan subscribers, is seeing rising costs among health plan members in all three government-subsidized benefits it helps manage: Medicaid, Medicare Advantage for older adults and individual coverage under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. In July, Centene pulled its financial guidance for 2025, jarring investors when the company disclosed market growth in more than 20 states is lower than expected.
On Wednesday, Centene reported a net loss of $6.63 billion, or $13.50 a share for the third quarter ended Sept. 30. That compares to net income of $713 million, or $1.36 per share in the year-ago period.
Centene’s health benefit ratio, which is the percentage of premium revenue that goes toward medical costs, jumped to 92.7% for the third quarter compared to 89.2% in the comparable period in 2024.
“The increase was primarily driven by increased Marketplace medical costs, lower Marketplace estimated risk adjustment revenue and program changes in the (prescription drug plan) business as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act compared to the third quarter of 2024,” Centene said in its earnings report. “The increase was also driven by higher medical costs in Medicaid driven primarily by behavioral health and home health, partially offset by Medicaid rate and revenue increases.”
Still, Centene issued guidance that increases its 2025 “full year adjusted diluted (earnings per share) forecast by $0.25 to at least $2.00,” and its chief executive said the company is making “tangible progress.”
“Our third quarter results and increased full year outlook demonstrate tangible progress against the near-term milestones we laid out for investors in July,” Centene CEO Sarah M. London said in a statement accompanying the earnings report. “While much work remains ahead, our organization remains focused on driving margin improvement, delivering outcomes for our members, and positioning the business for long-term success.”