Centene Execs Address Part D Broker Pay Controversy at Wells Fargo Conference

Centene Corp. late last month riled agents and brokers with the news that it would no longer pay new and renewal commissions for enrollments in its stand-alone Prescription Drug Plan (PDP) products. During a Sept. 4 presentation at the Wells Fargo Healthcare Conference, Centene executives for the first time publicly acknowledged the firm’s controversial decision.

“One important thing to note on PDP, partly because of the IRA [Inflation Reduction Act] changes and then final rate notice provisions at the time that we filed bids, we made the difficult decision to eliminate broker commissions this year for PDP only,” Centene CEO Sarah London emphasized during the conference. She added that “we'll continue to pay full commissions in Medicare Advantage and obviously work very closely with the broker community to support the work they do, to support our members.”