Centene Announces Winners Of Youth Impact Award For Vaping Prevention

ST. LOUIS, June 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) has announced the winners of the Centene Institute Youth Impact Award for Vaping Prevention. The national program is a curriculum and contest for adolescents ages 14 through 19 to raise awareness about vaping, e-cigarette use and prevention. The three national winners from Ohio, Georgia and New Jersey were recognized for their exceptional work and received awards during a virtual ceremony on June 14, 2021. The winning submission from Ohio can be viewed here.

The contest challenged youth to take action by developing and submitting a 30 to 60-second Public Service Announcement (PSA) video to educate their peers about the dangers of vaping. The contest accepted submissions from January 19 through April 16, 2021. During that time, Centene received over 150 entries across 30 states. The winning submissions were evaluated by judges based on the effectiveness of the message, originality and production quality.

"Over the past decade, we have seen an alarming increase in the use of e-cigarettes by middle and high school students," said Ken Yamaguchi, M.D., Executive Vice President, Chief Medical Officer for Centene. "We are pleased with the many students who participated in the contest.  They showed incredible understanding of the dangers of vaping and actively became a part of the solution."

In December 2018, the U.S. Surgeon General declared youth vaping a public health epidemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has further complicated e-cigarette use in adolescents. Recent research suggests that youth who vape and use e-cigarettes have an elevated risk for COVID-19 infection.

"Due to the compounding factors of the vaping epidemic and COVID-19, it is important that teenagers and young adults understand the dangers they face," said Mary Mason, M.D., Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer for the Centene Institute for Advanced Health Education. "This initiative is an important part of Centene's commitment to health literacy and disease prevention to address the rapid increase in nicotine use among our nation's youth."

About Centene Corporation
Centene Corporation, a Fortune 25 company, is a leading multi-national healthcare enterprise that is committed to helping people live healthier lives. The Company takes a local approach – with local brands and local teams – to provide fully integrated, high-quality, and cost-effective services to government sponsored and commercial healthcare programs, focusing on under-insured and uninsured individuals. Centene offers affordable and high-quality products to nearly 1 in 15 individuals across the nation, including Medicaid and Medicare members (including Medicare Prescription Drug Plans) as well as individuals and families served by the Health Insurance Marketplace, the TRICARE program, and individuals in correctional facilities. The Company also serves several international markets, and contracts with other healthcare and commercial organizations to provide a variety of specialty services focused on treating the whole person. Centene focuses on long-term growth and the development of its people, systems and capabilities so that it can better serve its members, providers, local communities, and government partners.

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://investors.centene.com.

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In particular, these statements include, without limitation, statements about our settlements with Ohio and Mississippi to resolve claims made by the states with regard to practices at Envolve, our pharmacy benefits manager subsidiary, and other possible future claims and settlements related to the practices at Envolve and our ability to settle claims with other states within the reserve estimate we have recorded and on other acceptable terms, or at all, future operating or financial performance, market opportunity, growth strategy, competition, expected activities in completed and future acquisitions, including statements about the impact of our proposed acquisition of Magellan Health, Inc. (Magellan Health and such acquisition, the Magellan Acquisition), our recently completed acquisition of WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (WellCare and such acquisition, the WellCare Acquisition), other recent and future acquisitions, investments and the adequacy of our available cash resources.  These forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are based on numerous assumptions and assessments made by us in light of our experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions, business strategies, operating environments, future developments and other factors we believe appropriate. 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Except as may be otherwise required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release. 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 impact of COVID-19 on global markets, economic conditions, the healthcare industry and our results of operations and the response by governments and other third parties; the risk that regulatory or other approvals required for the Magellan Acquisition may be delayed or not obtained or are subject to unanticipated conditions that could require the exertion of management's time and our resources or otherwise have an adverse effect on us; the possibility that certain conditions to the consummation of the Magellan Acquisition will not be satisfied or completed on a timely basis and accordingly the Magellan Acquisition may not be consummated on a timely basis or at all; uncertainty as to the expected financial performance of the combined company following completion of the Magellan Acquisition; the possibility that the expected synergies and value creation from the Magellan Acquisition or the WellCare Acquisition (or other acquired businesses) will not be realized, or will not be realized within the respective expected time periods; the risk that unexpected costs will be incurred in connection with the completion and/or integration of the Magellan Acquisition or that the integration of Magellan Health will be more difficult or time consuming than expected; the risk that potential litigation in connection with the Magellan Acquisition may affect the timing or occurrence of the Magellan Acquisition or result in significant costs of defense, indemnification and liability; a downgrade of the credit rating of our indebtedness, which could give rise to an obligation to redeem existing indebtedness; the inability to retain key personnel; disruption from the announcement, pendency, completion and/or integration of the Magellan Acquisition or from the integration of the WellCare Acquisition, or similar risks from other acquisitions we may announce or complete from time to time, including potential adverse reactions or changes to business relationships with customers, employees, suppliers or regulators, making it more difficult to maintain business and operational relationships; our ability to accurately predict and effectively manage health benefits and other operating expenses and reserves, including fluctuations in medical utilization rates due to the impact of COVID-19; competition; membership and revenue declines or unexpected trends; changes in healthcare practices, new technologies, and advances in medicine; increased healthcare costs; changes in economic, political or market conditions; 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 ("ACA") and the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act, collectively referred to as the ACA and any regulations enacted thereunder that may result from changing political conditions, the new administration or judicial actions, including the ultimate outcome in "Texas v. United States of America" regarding the constitutionality of the ACA; rate cuts or other payment reductions or delays by governmental payors and other risks and uncertainties affecting our government businesses; our ability to adequately price products; tax matters; disasters or major epidemics; changes in expected contract start dates; provider, state, federal, foreign and other contract changes and timing of regulatory approval of contracts; the expiration, suspension, or termination of our contracts with federal or state governments (including but not limited to Medicaid, Medicare, TRICARE or other customers); the difficulty of predicting the timing or outcome of pending or future legal and regulatory proceedings or matters, including the ongoing regulatory review of claims against our PBM business or whether additional claims, reviews or investigations relating to our PBM business will be brought by other states, the federal government or shareholder litigants, or government investigations; challenges to our contract awards; cyber-attacks or other privacy or data security incidents; the exertion of management's time and our 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 Magellan Acquisition; disruption caused by significant completed and pending acquisitions making it more difficult to maintain business and operational relationships; the risk that unexpected costs will be incurred in connection with the completion and/or integration of acquisition transactions; changes in expected closing dates, estimated purchase price and accretion for acquisitions; the risk that acquired businesses will not be integrated successfully; restrictions and limitations in connection with our indebtedness; our ability to maintain or achieve improvement in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services star ratings and maintain or achieve improvement in other quality scores in each case that can impact revenue and future growth; availability of debt and equity financing, on terms that are favorable to us; inflation; foreign currency fluctuations; and risks and uncertainties discussed in the reports that Centene has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 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 our business operations, financial condition and results of operations, in our 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, we cannot give assurances with respect to our future performance, including without limitation our ability to maintain adequate premium levels or our ability to control our future medical and selling, general and administrative costs. 

 

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SOURCE Centene Corporation