ST. LOUIS, Oct. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) announced today that retired United States Air Force General Lori J. Robinson was elected to serve on the company's board of directors as a Class I director. Gen. Robinson was appointed to the Nominating and Governance Committee and the Government and Regulatory Affairs Committee.

Gen. Robinson retired from the Air Force in July 2018 following a 36-year military career. Most recently, Gen. Robinson served as Commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and US Northern Command (NORTHCOM). Throughout her career, she commanded thousands of military and civilian men and women from the United States and Canada.

Working with the Governors of all 50 states and their Adjutants General, the General was responsible for coordinating the activities of 300,000 National Guard forces that could be tasked for response to natural disasters or internal defense of the United States.

Reporting directly to the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Canada, she was responsible for early warning and engagement of air and space threats to the United States and Canada. Gen. Robinson served in many other senior leadership positions with the Air Force.

"We are honored to welcome Gen. Robinson to our Board of Directors. Gen. Robinson's entire career demonstrates remarkable achievements at the highest levels of strategy, leadership, engagement and coordination, which will be an invaluable asset to our Board and growing enterprise," said Michael F. Neidorff, Centene's Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer.

"I am pleased to join Centene's Board of Directors at a time when the healthcare industry is evolving at a rapid rate," said Gen. Robinson. "I look forward to the opportunity to serve on the Board for a company that is playing a critical role in helping to shape the future of healthcare by partnering with the federal and state governments to offer innovative, affordable healthcare solutions for underserved populations."

Gen. Robinson will stand for re-election at Centene's April 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. Gen. Robinson will participate in the Company's standard director compensation program as described in the Company's 2019 Proxy Statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on form DEF 14A on March 8, 2019.

About Centene
Centene Corporation, a Fortune 100 company, is a diversified, multi-national healthcare enterprise that provides a portfolio of services to government sponsored and commercial healthcare programs, focusing on under-insured and uninsured individuals. Many receive benefits provided under Medicaid, including the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), as well as Aged, Blind or Disabled (ABD), Foster Care and Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS), in addition to other state-sponsored programs, Medicare (including the Medicare prescription drug benefit commonly known as "Part D"), dual eligible programs and programs with the U.S. Department of Defense. Centene also provides healthcare services to groups and individuals delivered through commercial health plans. Centene operates local health plans and offers a range of health insurance solutions. It also contracts with other healthcare and commercial organizations to provide specialty services including behavioral health management, care management software, correctional healthcare services, dental benefits management, commercial programs, home-based primary care services, life and health management, vision benefits management, pharmacy benefits management, specialty pharmacy and telehealth services.

Centene uses its investor relations website to publish important information about the company, including information that may be deemed material to investors. Financial and other information about Centene is routinely posted and is accessible on Centene's investor relations website, http://www.centene.com/investors.

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Statements of Centene
All statements, other than statements of current or historical fact, contained in this communication are forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing, forward-looking statements often use words such as "believe," "anticipate," "plan," "expect," "estimate," "intend," "seek," "target," "goal," "may," "will," "would," "could," "should," "can," "continue" and other similar words or expressions (and the negative thereof). In particular, these statements include, without limitation, statements about Centene's future operating or financial performance, market opportunity, growth strategy, competition, expected activities in completed and future acquisitions, including statements about the impact of Centene's proposed acquisition of WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (the "WellCare Transaction"), Centene's recent acquisition (the "Fidelis Care Transaction") of substantially all the assets of New York State Catholic Health Plan, Inc., d/b/a Fidelis Care New York ("Fidelis Care"), investments and the adequacy of Centene's available cash resources.

These forward-looking statements reflect Centene's current views with respect to future events and are based on numerous assumptions and assessments made by us in light of Centene's experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions, business strategies, operating environments, future developments and other factors Centene believes appropriate. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are subject to change because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future, including economic, regulatory, competitive and other factors that may cause Centene's or its industry's actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions.

All forward-looking statements included in this filing are based on information available to us on the date of this communication. Except as may be otherwise required by law, Centene undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements included in this communication, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this filing. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, as actual results may differ materially from projections, estimates, or other forward-looking statements due to a variety of important factors, variables and events including, but not limited to, the following: (i) Centene's ability to accurately predict and effectively manage health benefits and other operating expenses and reserves; (ii) competition; (iii) membership and revenue declines or unexpected trends; (iv) changes in healthcare practices, new technologies, and advances in medicine; (v) increased healthcare costs, (vi) changes in economic, political or market conditions; (vii) changes in federal or state laws or regulations, including changes with respect to income tax reform or government healthcare programs as well as changes with respect to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act, collectively referred to as the Affordable Care Act ("ACA"), and any regulations enacted thereunder that may result from changing political conditions or judicial actions, including the ultimate outcome of the District Court decision in "Texas v. United States of America" regarding the constitutionality of the ACA; (viii) rate cuts or other payment reductions or delays by governmental payors and other risks and uncertainties affecting Centene's government businesses; (ix) Centene's ability to adequately price products on federally facilitated and state-based Health Insurance Marketplaces; (x) tax matters; (xi) disasters or major epidemics; (xii) the outcome of legal and regulatory proceedings; (xiii) changes in expected contract start dates; (xiv) provider, state, federal and other contract changes and timing of regulatory approval of contracts; (xv) the expiration, suspension, or termination of Centene's contracts with federal or state governments (including but not limited to Medicaid, Medicare, TRICARE or other customers); (xvi) the difficulty of predicting the timing or outcome of pending or future litigation or government investigations; (xvii) challenges to Centene's contract awards; (xviii) cyber-attacks or other privacy or data security incidents; (xix) the possibility that the expected synergies and value creation from acquired businesses, including, without limitation, the Fidelis Care Transaction and the WellCare Transaction, will not be realized, or will not be realized within the expected time period; (xx) the exertion of management's time and Centene's resources, and other expenses incurred and business changes required in connection with complying with the undertakings in connection with any regulatory, governmental or third party consents or approvals for acquisitions, including the Fidelis Care Transaction and the WellCare Transaction; (xxi) disruption caused by significant completed and pending acquisitions, including, among others, the Fidelis Care Transaction and the WellCare Transaction, making it more difficult to maintain business and operational relationships; (xxii) the risk that unexpected costs will be incurred in connection with the completion and/or integration of acquisition transactions, including, among others, the Fidelis Care Transaction and the WellCare Transaction; (xxiii) changes in expected closing dates, estimated purchase price and accretion for acquisitions; (xxiv) the risk that acquired businesses, including Fidelis Care, will not be integrated successfully; (xxv) the risk that, following the Fidelis Care Transaction and the WellCare Transaction, Centene may not be able to effectively manage its expanded operations; (xxvi) restrictions and limitations in connection with Centene's indebtedness; (xxvii) Centene's ability to maintain the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Star ratings and maintain or achieve improvement in other quality scores in each case that can impact revenue and future growth; (xxviii) availability of debt and equity financing, on terms that are favorable to us; (xxxix) inflation; and (xxx) foreign currency fluctuations.

This list of important factors is not intended to be exhaustive. We discuss certain of these matters more fully, as well as certain other factors that may affect Centene's business operations, financial condition and results of operations, in Centene's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), including the registration statement on Form S-4 filed by Centene with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 23, 2019 (the "Registration Statement"), and Centene's Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K. Due to these important factors and risks, Centene cannot give assurances with respect to Centene's future performance, including without limitation Centene's ability to maintain adequate premium levels or Centene's ability to control its future medical and selling, general and administrative costs.

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SOURCE Centene Corporation