by Robert King | Dec 2, 2019 11:12am
Centene has agreed to
sell its Medicaid and Medicare Advantage business in Illinois to CVS Health in
order to help its $15 billion merger with insurer WellCare.
The deal, announced
Monday and financial terms of which were not disclosed, comes as CVS Health and
its insurance division Aetna have made aggressive moves to woo more Medicare
Advantage customers.
“Expanding
our Medicaid and Medicare Advantage presence
in Illinois will allow us to serve more members with our proven
holistic approach that addresses physical, behavioral and social determinants
of care," said Karen Lynch, executive vice president of CVS
Health and president of Aetna, in a statement.
Centene said the deal
does not affect its Ambetter business, which offers health plans on the
Affordable Care Act’s insurance exchange in Illinois. The deal also doesn’t
touch Centene’s YouthCare foster care contract with Illinois, which is set to
begin in February 2020.
The divestiture of
Centene’s IlliniCare Health plan is “the next step” in the merger process with
WellCare, said Centene President and CEO Michael Neidorff in a statement.
The deal with
WellCare, announced back in March, is expected to close by the first half of
2020 and has gotten approval by 26 states so far.
CVS and WellCare have
made previous moves to divest certain Medicaid plans in order to get federal
and state approval for the merger. Back in September, WellCare sold its
Missouri and Nebraska Medicaid plans to Anthem.
Centene has been
bullish that the deal is going ahead of schedule. Neidorff told investors in October that the
merger, which would create one of the biggest providers of government plans,
could close earlier than the first half of 2020.
No comments:
Post a Comment