As Aetna finalizes the acquisition of the managed care insurer Coventry, it is selling one of its own Medicaid businesses, Missouri Care, to WellCare Health Plans, for an undisclosed sum.
Aetna says operating both Missouri Care and Coventry's HealthCare USA would exceed the state's membership limits for managed care contracts. When Coventry is officially acquired, Aetna plans to run the 250,000-member HealthCare USA.
Aetna's Missouri Care has about 100,000 Missouri Medicaid members across the state and has had a "sizeable presence" since the late 1990s, Alec Cunningham, WellCare's CEO, said in a press release.
This is Aetna's first sale of a business asset after the $5.7 billion acquisition of Coventry was announced in August. The country's third largest insurer by medical membership, Aetna sought Bethesda, Maryland-based Coventry amid a number of high-profile deals as private insurers looked to bolster their presence in public-payer programs. Other similar deals includes Wellpoint's dela to buy Medicaid managed care firm Amerigroup last summer.