Centene Corporation Reports 2006 Second Quarter Earnings

Centene Corporation today announced its financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2006.

Second Quarter Summary

• Revenues of $495.3 million, a 41.7% increase over the 2005 second quarter.
• Earnings from operations of $6.3 million compared to $22.3 million in the 2005 second quarter.
• Earnings per diluted share of $0.11 (includes $9.7 million of adverse development in the first quarter 2006 medical claims reserves) versus $0.34 in the comparable prior year quarter.
• Operating cash flows of $5.1 million.
• Quarter-end Medicaid Managed Care membership of 1.1 million.
• Medicaid Managed Care G&A expense ratio of 12.3% and Specialty Services G&A ratio of 17.4%.
• Membership growth of 33.5% over the 2005 second quarter.
• Days in claims payable of 42.6.

Other Events

• Commenced operations in Georgia with 216,000 members.
• Acquired MediPlan Corporation, adding 13,600 Medicaid members in Canton, Ohio.
• Acquired Cardium Health Services Corporation, a Connecticut-based chronic disease management company.
• Acquired managed vision business of OptiCare Health Systems, Inc. effective July 1.
• Awarded two long-term care contracts in Arizona for Maricopa and Yuma/LaPaz counties.

The 2006 second quarter results include approximately $9.7 million of adverse medical cost development in estimated claims liabilities from the 2006 first quarter. The adverse development was largely attributable to: (1) increased medical expense for maternity related cases, including NICU, (2) increased physician costs, (3) increased costs associated with injectibles such as Synagis and Somatropin, and (4) increases in the estimated days for members hospitalized as of March 31, 2006. Approximately $3.7 million of the development occurred in Indiana and $2.2 million occurred in Texas. There has been a slight positive development for 2005 claims. Approximately $7.1 million of the development related to March claims and $2.5 million was for February claims.

In Indiana, there were a number of factors which affected our results. We saw a continuation of increased medical expenses associated with the members added in late 2005, higher percentage of admissions for NICU births and increased Synagis and Somatropin utilization. In addition, our estimated hospital inpatient days increased significantly primarily because of the deteriorating condition of several complex and high-cost cases and missed patient bed-day estimates. Pharmacy costs stabilized in the 2006 second quarter and are expected to decrease in the 2006 third quarter.

In Texas, we are currently experiencing higher costs because of a case mix shift to a higher percentage of members in the pregnant women and newborn categories driving increases in related costs such as NICU, radiology and Synagis, and from members moving out of Primary Care Case Management into a managed care environment. We also had several deteriorating complex and high cost cases.

In Georgia, our subsidiary Peach State Health Plan, Inc., began managing care for 216,000 Medicaid and SCHIP members in the Atlanta and Central regions effective June 1, 2006. The state of Georgia has scheduled membership operations to commence in the Southwest region in September.

During the 2005 fourth quarter, we were awarded contracts in Texas to expand operations to the Corpus Christi market, and operations are scheduled to commence in September 2006. We will also begin serving Medicaid members in Lubbock and a small number of SCHIP members in Austin, effective September 1. In addition, we were recently awarded a contract to provide managed care for SSI recipients in the San Antonio and Corpus Christi markets, for which membership operations are scheduled to start in January 2007.

Our Specialty Services segment has experienced significant year-over-year growth largely due to acquisitions and contract awards. During this past quarter, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System awarded our subsidiary, CenCorp Health Solutions, two managed care program contracts to provide Long Term Care services in Maricopa and Yuma/LaPaz counties. Bridgeway Health Solutions, a member of the CenCorp family of specialty companies, will provide those services when the contracts become effective October 2006.

Michael F. Neidorff, Centene’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, “While we are truly disappointed with our second quarter results, we have identified the issues and we are undertaking steps to resolve them in a sustainable manner. We have initiated some very specific corrective actions at the corporate and health plan levels to protect against issues of this magnitude in the future.”

Statement of Earnings

• For the 2006 second quarter, revenues increased 41.7% to $495.3 million from $349.6 million in the 2005 second quarter.
• The HBR for Centene’s Medicaid and SCHIP populations, which reflects medical costs as a percent of premium revenues, was 84.0% and 83.4% for the three and six month periods ending June 30, 2006, respectively; increases of 3.1% and 2.7% over the comparable 2005 periods. The 2006 second quarter increase was caused primarily by $9.7 million for adverse medical cost development. The increase for the six months ended June 30, 2006 is caused primarily by increased costs associated with the $9.7 million of adverse development, members in the Indiana market and physician and injectibles costs in other markets.
• General and administrative (G&A) expense as a percent of revenues for the Medicaid Managed Care segment was 12.3% in the second quarter of 2006 compared to 10.5% in the second quarter of 2005. The 2006 second quarter included $4.7 million in costs associated with the start-up of the new health plan in Georgia.
• Earnings from operations decreased to $6.3 million in the second quarter of 2006 from $22.3 million in the second quarter of 2005.
• Net earnings were $4.9 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2006 compared to $15.2 million, or $0.34 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2005.
• For the six months ended June 30, 2006, revenues increased 39.3% to $950.4 million from $682.0 million for the same period in the prior year. Medicaid Managed Care G&A expenses as a percent of revenues increased to 12.1% in the first half of 2006 compared to 10.6% in the first half of 2005. Earnings from operations decreased to $18.9 million in the first half of 2006 from $43.6 million in the first half of 2005. Net earnings were $13.7 million, or $0.31 per diluted share, in the first half of 2006.

Balance Sheet and Cash Flow

At June 30, 2006, the Company had cash and investments of $349.4 million, including $323.9 million held by its regulated entities and $25.5 million held by its unregulated entities. Medical claims liabilities totaled $187.2 million, representing 42.6 days in claims payable. Consistent with 2005, the state of Wisconsin delayed payment of the June premium of approximately $30 million until July 2006. Similarly, we did not receive Texas’ $2.8 million June delivery payment until July 2006.

J. Per Brodin, Centene’s Chief Financial Officer, stated, “This guidance includes the effect of all recent acquisitions and contract awards and anticipates that the operations for the Southwest region of Georgia and the Texas expansion will commence on September 1 and the Arizona Long Term Care contract in October. This guidance also reflects management’s updated assumptions regarding the Company’s health benefits ratio for the remainder of the year.”