Health-care company Centene Corp. CNC, +0.07% on
Wednesday announced plans to purchase managed-care provider WellCare Health
Plans Inc.WCG, +0.07% St.
Louis-based Centene said it would buy WellCare, based in Tampa, Florida, for
$305.39 per share, with the deal valued at $17.3 billion. Bloomberg News on Tuesday reported
that the health-care companies were in merger talks. Centene, a health insurer
focused on Medicaid and Affordable Care Act markets, has about 14 million
members, while WellCare has about 5.5 million Medicaid and Medicare-oriented
members. The deal comes as the Justice Department mounted a fresh challenge to
ACA, known as Obamacare. Shares of Centene were down 4.5% in premarket trade,
while those for WellCare were up about 23% after the announcement. The two
companies were set to hold a news conference to discuss the combination at 8
a.m. Eastern Time.
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