Michael F. Niedorf, 79, dies; His Company Was an Obamacare Stalwart

When state officials and government regulators were concerned that some counties in the United States would be left without carriers willing to sell insurance under the Affordable Care Act, Mr. Needorf agreed to provide coverage in some of those markets, Jesse said. Hunter, a former chief strategy officer for Senten, and “there was never any hesitation.”

“We want to help where we can,” Mr Neidorf told The New York Times in 2017.

He was born in 1942 in Altuna, Pa. in A. Harvey Neidorf, a physician, and Shirley Rubin Neidorf, a nurse. He had considered going into medicine, but decided instead to major in political science at Trinity University in San Antonio. He later earned a master’s degree from St. Francis College in Brooklyn.

He is survived by his wife Noemi; his brother, Robert; his sister, Susan Neidorff Rainglass; and his son, Peter. His daughter Monica Niedorf passed away in 2021.

Mr. Needorf worked for a unit of UnitedHealthcare when he was appointed as chief executive of Coordinated Care, the smaller managed-care company that would become Centene. “It was clear they needed a complete transformation,” said Robert Ditmore, a longtime Sentinel board member who had been involved in the company.

Mr. Neidorf aggressively expanded into the Medicaid market, despite concerns about whether it would be a successful venture. “I had questions about Medicaid; is it going to work?” Mr. Ditmore said. But, he added, Mr Neidorff persuaded him: “It was clearly a big market, so we said let’s go for it.”

Mr Niedorf took the company public in 2001. In 2016, they acquired California insurer, Health Net, which offered private plans for another government program, Medicare.

When the Affordable Care Act provided an opportunity to sell low-cost private insurance through state markets established by the federal government, Mr. Ditmore recalled, Mr. Needorf was eager to become a major player, despite the uncertainty about it. That’s how insurers should price their policies in the new market. “He kept pushing for it,” said Mr. Ditmore. “He was a bulldog with a bone in his mouth.”