Health insurer WellCare Health Plans said all lines of business including Medicare are growing by double-digit percentages as the company clears regulatory hurdles to complete its sale to Centene.
The nearly 10% growth in WellCare’s Medicare health plan business reported in the company’s second-quarter to 560,000 members is key given that is an area Centene wants to bolster as part of its agreement to buy WellCare for more than $15 billion. Centene is perhaps best known for administering Medicaid benefits for poor Americans and selling subsidized individual coverage under the Affordable Care Act in 20 states.
WellCare’s revenue from Medicare health plans jumped by 21% to $1.9 billion helping increase total company revenue in the quarter to $7 billion. WellCare also had strong growth in its Medicaid health plans with membership rising nearly 46% to 4.1 million as of June 30, 2019. The company credited the increase in membership growth to its acquisition last year of Meridian Health plans as well as organic growth.
WellCare said adjusted net income was $219 million, or $4.31 per share in the second quarter compared to $166.9 million, or $3.69 per share for the second quarter of 2018.
Centene last week announced plans to expand its Medicare Advantagebusiness into into 100 new counties and enter a new state – Nevada – to widen the availability of seniors to buy privatized Medicare coverage in 2020.
Medicare Advantage plans contract with the federal government to provide extra benefits and services to seniors, such as disease management and nurse help hotlines, with some even providing vision and dental care and wellness programs. And the federal government has changed rules to allow private health insurers to offer more benefits in Medicare Advantage plans they sell.
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