A settlement agreement with South Carolina in late December brought the total amount that Centene paid in 2023 to resolve allegations it overbilled state Medicaid programs for pharmacy services to $307 million.
That figure was roughly the same as the $307.5 million the company spent to resolve allegations in 2022. Centene settled allegations from three states in 2023, down from seven in 2022, but one of those settlements was its largest payment to date.
In February, Centene agreed to pay California $215 million to settle allegations it overcharged the Medi-Cal program by falsely reporting higher prescription drug costs incurred by two of its managed care plans. The California attorney general's office said the settlement recovered twice the value of the alleged inflated drug costs.
That settlement came about a week after Centene settled similar allegations in Indiana for $66 million.
South Carolina's attorney general, meanwhile, announced Dec. 29 that Centene will pay nearly $26 million to resolve allegations in that state.
Centene also settled allegations levied by five other states in 2021. KFF Health News reported in 2022 that other states have settled with the company, but the settlement amounts and the states themselves have never been publicly disclosed.
According to a 2021 Securities and Exchange Commission report, Centene created a $1.25 billion reserve to pay for these settlements.