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Jan. 15, 2008
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MHMR Jan. 15, 2008: Volume 16, Number 1
United to buy Unison...Munch Re buys Medicare plan...SPECIAL REPORT: Managed Care Outlook for 2008...No news is good news…Aetna, BCBS-FL, BCBS-MI, BCBS-NC, Cigna, Harvard Pilgrim, Health Partners, Horizon BCBS-NJ, Humana, UnitedHealth, WellPoint...Aetna still eyes 15% profit gain...Coventry reaffirms ’08 outlook...Humana shares rise on upgrade...MCO stocks up 4% in 2007…Cigna comments on Sarkisyan...Centene names TX CEO...WellPoint promotes Sassi...MCO stocks rise 3.3%...Services stocks rise 3.9%...and more...
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UNITED TO BUY UNISON, BOOST MEDICAID
UnitedHealth Group (Minnetonka, MN) will boost its presence in the Medicaid market through the acquisition of Unison Health Plans (Pittsburgh, PA), which serves 370,000 members in various public health programs.
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MUNICH RE TO BUY STERLING LIFE
Munich Re Group (Germany) has signaled its intention to compete in the U.S. Medicare health plan market through an agreement to acquire Sterling Life Insurance Co. (Bellingham, WA) for $352 million or 10 times projected 2009 earnings.
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COVENTRY RE-AFFIRMS 2008 EARNINGS GROWTH OF 11-15%
Coventry Health Care (Bethesda, MD) re-affirmed its 2008 earnings outlook of $4.42 to $4.58 per share, an 11% to 15% increase over expected 2007 earnings per share. Previously, the company announced it was expecting 2008 risk revenues of $11.1 billion to $11.6 billion and medical cost ratio of 80% to 80.5%.
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MCO STOCKS RISE 4% IN 2007; HUMANA, AETNA LEAD
Managed care stocks rose 4% in 2007, surpassing the Standard & Poor’s 500 index (+3.5%) but lagging the Dow industrials (+6.4%) and the Nasdaq composite (+9.8%), according to an MHMR tally of shares of 14 managed care organizations.
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CIGNA SAYS SARKISYAN WAS IN SELF-INSURED PLAN
Cigna Corp. (Philadelphia) said that Nataline Sarkisyan, the 17-year-old who died after a three-year battle with leukemia, was covered by a self-insured health plan administered on an ASO basis.
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CENTENE NAMES WISE CEO OF TEXAS UNIT
Centene Corp. (St. Louis) has named Thomas Wise president and chief executive of the company’s Texas subsidiary, Superior HealthPlan (Austin, TX). He was most recently Superior’s vice president of finance and director of contracting.
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WELLPOINT NAMES SASSI CEO OF CONSUMER UNIT
WellPoint Inc. (Indianapolis) has named Brian Sassi president and chief executive of the company’s consumer business unit effective Feb. 1, which includes individual, Medicare and Medicaid products.
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