KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Health insurer Centene says the 40 Missouri counties where it will offer coverage on Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges next year include 25 that would otherwise have been without an insurer.

Missouri-based Centene Corp.’s announcement Friday came 17 days after it said it would expand into Missouri even as others are either withdrawing from those markets or proposing steep price hikes to remain.

Centene’s Missouri offerings will fill an expected void after Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City leaves that individual insurance marketplace next year, leaving 25 Missouri counties with no insurance provider under the exchanges.

Centene covers 1.2 million customers through the exchanges and is among that market’s biggest providers of health insurance.