Centene Corp. Centene Corp. (CNC) is offering buyouts to most of its employees as the health insurer scrambles to cut costs after a big drop in membership across its health plans.

The U.S. insurer launched a voluntary separation program that lets eligible employees apply for buyouts. But it's not automatic — applications need company approval, a spokesperson told Bloomberg.

Workforce Reduction Plan Takes Shape

Centene had about 61,000 employees in the first quarter. The company didn't say how many jobs it hopes to cut through the program, but it warned that more layoffs could come if not enough people take the buyout.

ACA Business Sees Largest Membership Decline

Bloomberg reported Tuesday that Centene's biggest enrollment losses came from its Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace business. Membership in those plans fell by roughly 2 million this year. The reason? Pandemic-era federal subsidies that helped lower costs for ACA enrollees expired after Congress let them lapse, making coverage more expensive for many consumers.

In the first quarter, total membership across Centene's portfolio dropped to 26.27 million from 27.9 million a year ago. Marketplace membership alone fell from 5.626 million to 3.582 million.

Centene CEO Discusses ACA Membership Trends

Back in March at the Barclays Global Healthcare Conference, Centene had already flagged lower membership in some ACA plans. The company expected ACA membership attrition to land somewhere between the high teens and the mid-30s percentage-wise.

"But we were pretty consistent in the view that we would be at the higher end of that and possibly higher than the top end of that, partly because of our FPL mix and partly because of the pricing actions that we took coming into the year and our focus on margin over membership," CEO Sarah London said.

CNC Price Action: Centene shares were down 2.08% at $62.63 at the time of publication on Tuesday.