The former CEO of Obamacare’s federal exchange, healthcare.gov, has accepted an executive role with health insurer Centene, a company that has said it is profiting from Obamacare and plans to expand its participation for 2018.
Kevin Counihan will become regional vice president for Centene’s Midwest division and will work out of the company’s headquarters in Clayton, Mo.
Unlike several other health insurers, Centene has said that it has profited from selling coverage on the exchanges. The company expects to sell plans on the Obamacare exchange in Kansas, Missouri and Nevada in 2018, and to expand in other states where it already sells plans, including in Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, Texas and Washington. All but Nevada and Washington use healthcare.gov to sell coverage.
Centene’s main business is through private contracts it holds with Medicaid managed care programs.
Counihan ran the exchange in Connecticut before joining the Obama administration in 2014, after the site struggled with long wait times and other website glitches during its first rollout. Under his leadership, healthcare.gov added functions to its website that allowed customers to compare plans, see which doctors, hospitals and prescriptions were included in their coverage, and to see what their out-of-pocket costs would be under certain coverage options.
The federal exchange is used in 39 states, while the remaining states have set up their own exchanges.
