12.23.19 - National corporations are acquiring smaller health insurers
'One company that has burst into New York in the past two years is St. Louis–based Centene, the country's largest Medicaid insurer, which acquired nonprofit Catholic health plan Fidelis Care for $3.8 billion in 2018. The deal gave Centene access to the country's second-largest managed-care market as well as the roughly 1.6 million members enrolled in Fidelis' Affordable Care Act, Medicare Advantage and Medicaid products.'
'The Cuomo administration secured a $2 billion payment as part of the deal because the state said Fidelis' value was derived from its participation in state-funded programs such as Medicaid. The remaining proceeds were used to create the $3 billion Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, which provides grants to local health causes.'
'Centene followed up that deal this year by agreeing to pay $17.3 billion, including debt, for Tampa's WellCare, an insurer with New York operations, including nearly 79,000 Medicaid members.'
'With the Fidelis Care and WellCare deals, Centene is set to take control of two of the city's eight largest Medicaid managed-care plans, which insure more than 526,000 of the 2.4 million residents covered by Medicaid managed care.'