The CEO of one of Medicaid and Medicare’s biggest insurers is bullish on A.I., and thinks it could bring down costs

(Credit: Courtesy of Centene)

For years, Big Health Care has been getting bigger. The industry’s largest companies, including UnitedHealth Group and CVS Health, have scaled our annual Fortune 500 list over the past decade through sweeping M&A that has made them behemoths (and put them in the No. 5 and No. 6 spots this year).

Centene, the St. Louis-based Medicaid and Medicare insurer that stands at No. 25 on this year’s list with $145 billion in revenue, consolidated its way to the top, too: Just a decade ago, it had only $8.7 billion in annual revenues and ranked as No. 303. Now it has more than 28 million members in 50 states, and is the nation’s largest Medicaid insurer, specializing in managed care of lower-income and medically complex populations.