Managed Care News - WellPoint to aquire Amerigroup

A very big change in the delivery of healthcare is here. Healthcare reform makes an impact on all of the aspect of care delivery, from providers to suppliers, to pharmaceutical, to insurance companies. One of the big transactions will take effect in the first quarter of 2013.

WellPoint is acquiring Amerigroup along with some other companies, such as 1-800-Contacts, a Draper, Utah based contact lens retailer. Please see the article published in ModernHealthcare.com below:

WellPoint said it entered a definitive agreement to acquire Amerigroup, a Virginia Beach, Va.-based managed-care company, for about $4.9 billion.

The deal will expand the Indianapolis-based health insurer’s Medicaid managed-care business, including its share of the dual-eligible population. 

“We expect Medicaid spending under managed-care programs to increase by nearly $100 million by the end of 2014,” said WellPoint President and CEO Angela Braly during a conference call. “These opportunities will develop organically in addition to the Medicaideligibility expansion under healthcare reform.”

 

 

 

The combined company will serve about 4.5 million Medicaid beneficiaries, as well as have a Medicaid presence in 19 states. Amerigroup, which said its revenue is expected to double over the next five years, will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of WellPoint. 

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2013. 

WellPoint said last month that it planned to acquire 1-800-Contacts, a Draper, Utah-based contact lens retailer, for an undisclosed sum.