Centene Corporation Closes MediPlan Acquisition.

ST. LOUIS -- Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) announced today that it has closed the acquisition of MediPlan Corporation from the Aultman Health Foundation, a not-for-profit healthcare delivery system. As previously disclosed, this transaction will add approximately 13,000 Medicaid members in the Canton market to the 58,100 Ohio members already covered by Centene's Ohio subsidiary, Buckeye Community Health Plan. The agreement also includes long-term provider contracts with Aultman Hospital and related Aultman providers.

Michael F. Neidorff, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Centene, stated, "We are pleased to increase our market coverage through this acquisition and look forward to our participation in the state's Medicaid expansion which will roll-out later this year. This newly expanded footprint and our role as a key provider of comprehensive healthcare services in Ohio solidly positions us for the state's Aged, Blind and Disabled RFP process."

About Centene Corporation

Centene Corporation provides multi-line managed care programs and related services to individuals receiving benefits under Medicaid, including Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The Company operates health plans in Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas and Wisconsin. In addition, the Company contracts with other healthcare organizations to provide specialty services, including behavioral health, disease management, nurse triage, pharmacy benefit management and treatment compliance. Information regarding Centene is available via the Internet at www.centene.com.

The second paragraph of this press release contain forward-looking statements that relate to future events and future financial performance of Centene; subsequent events and developments may cause the Company's estimates to change. The Company disclaims any obligation to update this forward-looking financial information in the future. Matters subject to forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, 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. Actual results also may differ from projections or estimates due to a variety of important factors, including the timing of the completion of the acquisition of MediPlan Corporation, Centene's ability to successfully integrate and manage such acquisition, Centene's ability to accurately predict and effectively manage health benefits and other operating expenses, competition, changes in healthcare practices, changes in federal or state laws or regulations, inflation, provider contract changes, new technologies, reduction in provider payments by governmental payors, major epidemics, disasters and numerous other factors affecting the delivery and cost of healthcare. The expiration, cancellation or suspension of Centene's Medicaid managed care contracts by state governments would also negatively affect Centene.