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Posted on 10/25/2007 7:52:37 AM PDT by wagglebee
For the past two years, analysts have been asking how fast-growing WellCare Health Plans of Tampa has been able to make so much money running government health plans for the poor and elderly. Now government investigators may be asking the same thing.
On a rainy Wednesday morning, more than 200 federal and state agents swarmed WellCare's campus on Henderson Road in Tampa, forcing employees onto the sidewalk and into their cars.
Steven Meitzen, 51, who arrived at WellCare about 9:40 a.m. for a job interview, said he was initially told it was a bomb scare. "Later on, I talked to someone who said the FBI had a subpoena and were looking for records," he said.
By midday, the complex's parking garages were half-empty, but federal agents remained busy. They were still milling around WellCare's buildings in the early evening; a Ryder truck was backed up to a loading dock.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Tampa said little about the search, which involved personnel from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Florida attorney general's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. The search warrant is sealed.
Both federal and state officials, however, said that the investigation should have no impact on delivery of health care to the more than 2.3-million members of WellCare's managed care plans.
The company's customers are about evenly divided between Medicare and Medicaid plans. WellCare is the largest Medicaid provider in Florida, with more than 350,000 members. The company also offers Medicare Advantage plans to seniors in seven states and a stand-alone drug plan nationwide.
The timing of the raid could be detrimental as WellCare is in the midst of convincing seniors to sign up for its 2008 plans.
WellCare issued a release saying that it was cooperating with authorities and that essential services to members would remain uninterrupted. Though its customer service number was working Wednesday, WellCare's Web site was replaced with a notice saying, "We're sorry, but something went wrong. We've been notified about this issue and we'll take a look at it shortly."
The company, which went public in July 2004 at $17 a share, has had a meteoric rise, with its stock more than doubling in the past 12 months. On Wednesday, WellCare's shares dropped $6.77 or 5.5 percent, to $115.50 before trading was halted about 11 a.m. It ended the day down $7.10 at $115.17.
FTN Midwest analyst Peter Costa downgraded his rating on WellCare stock to "sell" from "neutral" on Wednesday, citing the search. Costa said the investigation appeared to be a criminal one.
"Criminal investigations are harder to prove, likely to be more company specific and carry stiffer penalties, including being barred from doing business with the government if it is for fraud, which it most likely is given the departments involved," Costa said in a research note.
Thomas Carroll, analyst with Stifel Nicolaus in Baltimore, called the raid "ominous" and downgraded WellCare shares to "sell" from "hold" in a note to clients. Contacts within the company said BlackBerries, computers and files were seized from corporate, marketing and human resources offices, according to Carroll.
Carroll suspects the raid is potentially the result of a lawsuit in which an employee brought a matter to the attention of authorities.
"When the FBI and HHS raid a health care company, the outlook on earnings, legal proceedings and the entire operations of the company can be questioned," Carroll said.
WellCare's business practices have come under increased criticism over the past several months. Last spring, the company said independent sales agents in Georgia enrolled dead people in Medicare plans. In May and June, WellCare representatives appeared along with other insurance executives at hearings in the Senate and House into aggressive Medicare marketing practices. WellCare and six other insurers subsequently agreed to a temporary halt in marketing one type of Medicare plan, while promising to initiate consumer safeguards. In August, however, Medicare cited WellCare once again for violating several provisions of its Medicare contract, including sales practices.
WellCare, which had earnings of $139.2-million in 2006, gets all of its nearly $4-billion in revenues from state or federal governments. Profits come from the difference between the amount received from the government and the amount spent on overhead and medical care for its members.
The company routinely has outperformed its competition; for the quarter ending in June, the company said just 80.8 percent of its revenue was spent on medical claims, down from 82.7 percent a year ago.
WellCare's high margins have had analysts scratching their heads. In April, two Wall Street analysts said Florida in particular was too generous in its Medicaid reimbursement to WellCare. The analysts, with CIBC World Markets and Goldman Sachs & Co., were particularly critical of WellCare's use of a subsidiary in the Cayman Islands for reinsurance, saying it allowed the company to shift money in the form of reinsurance premiums.
WellCare said its reinsurance arrangement had been approved by stateregulators and rejected claims it was overpaid.
Florida Medicaid payments were raised 7.5 percent in July, to an average of $215 per member per month. Cuts of about 1.5 percent could be on the way in January, however, if Gov. Charlie Crist approves recommendations made during the recent special legislative session.
Medicare reimbursements average about $800 per member per month and will increase 3.5 percent next year. Because the federal government wanted to encourage private insurers to offer Medicare plans, it pays about 12 percent more for seniors on private plans than it does for traditional Medicare.
WellCare was a slow-growing Florida company until 1992 when its owner, Dr. Kiran Patel, sold it to a New York investment group led by financier George Soros. The bankers hired Todd Farha, an aggressive Harvard MBA, to transform the company. Under his leadership, WellCare's earnings have increased eight-fold and the company's investors and executives like Farha have profited handsomely from appreciation in its stock.
In an interview last year, Farha credited WellCare's success with hard work, attractive member benefits and close attention to the basics. But he has also nurtured the kinds of relationships invaluable to a company dependent on government funding.
WellCare and its affiliates have given the Republican Party of Florida some $105,000 in contributions this year, according to state election records. They've also given the Florida Democratic Party $5,000 this year. In 2006, WellCare's PAC gave $66,000 to federal candidates, all Republicans.
And the company's board has included the head of the Florida agency that oversees Medicaid, Dr. Andrew Agwunobi. Agwunobi was a director for six months before being picked to head the Agency for Health Care Administration. For his six months service on WellCare's board, Agwunobi received stock, which he sold for more than $1-million.
Current WellCare board members include former Florida Sen. Bob Graham and Ruben King-Shaw, former head of Florida's health agency and an ex-deputy chief at Medicare.
Msgr. remains a great presence in our lives today. At Pinellas Park I sought his guidance and thanked Our Lord for Msgr.'s words each day as he tended to Terri and kept our spirits bolstered with the Faith which can come only from Above.
As all may recall, Msgr. has posted his thoughts on Terri exclusively here in our Terri Dailies last year and I remain in touch with him, having had a wonderful talk with him quite recently. Msgr. played a core role in this epic scene, one for which we may give abundant thanks to Our Lord, for Terri's Legacy.
And need I remind, Msgr. was touched by the passing of our compatriot, T'wit, and offered us his comfort and wisdom.
Deo Gratias.
Boźe, coś Polskę
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STAMFORD - Thaddeus Malanowski has been a brigadier general, missionary and monsignor. Though his duties may have differed for each position, his job has remained the same for the past 60 years. Stamford's Patriotic and Special Events Commission chose Malanowski as grand marshal for today's Veterans Day Parade, which begins at noon in front of Ridgeway Shopping Plaza on Summer Street and ends in Veterans Park at Bank and Atlantic streets.
"My calling is serving God's people," Malanowski said. "That's my primary responsibility, or privilege."
Pat Batinelli, who has spent the past 22 years on the events commission, said about 1,500 people will march, including Malanowski and about 100 veterans from Stamford. Batinelli, 75, served with the U.S. Marines. Malanowski served as grand marshal for the 1977 parade as well.
"He had a great and impeccable record in the military and at the church, and we decided to have him as our man this year," Batinelli said of Malanowski.
The 85-year-old Stamford native, a retired Roman Catholic priest, lives in the rectory at Holy Name of Jesus Church in the South End. He attended parochial elementary school there, growing up in the neighborhood, which then had a large Polish population.
Malanowski was ordained in May 1947 and enlisted in the U.S. Army as a chaplain two years later.
"It's not even like a profession, like a doctor or a lawyer," he said. "It's a commitment and a dedication in serving God's people and God."
During stints in Germany and Korea with the Army, Malanowski rose through the military ranks and was promoted to brigadier general in 1973, serving as the branch's deputy chief of chaplains. He also counseled Elvis Presley while stationed in Germany and led a cheer in President Reagan's honor in Vatican City during a state visit with Pope John Paul II.
As brigadier general, he held the second-highest post among chaplains. After retiring from the Army in 1984, Malanowski worked as a civilian priest in Florida for the St. Petersburg Diocese, where he served as the court-appointed spiritual adviser to Terri Schiavo, whose death in 2005 caused an international controversy.
Schiavo, a comatose woman whose husband wanted to remove her feeding tube because her condition was thought to be irreversible, galvanized supporters and detractors of euthanasia.
Malanowski returned to his hometown in June, leaving behind his experiences with Schiavo, which at times led him into depression, he said.
"I spent some of the best years of my life here in Stamford, as a child growing up and being educated here," he said. "So I'm very, very happy because I got away from that big problem in Florida, with the press and the negativism."
Now a monsignor, Malanowski also served as a missionary over the past 23 years in Haiti, where he helped establish a 24,000-square-foot medical clinic.
In Stamford, Malanowski, who speaks English and Polish, celebrates about 10 Masses a week at Holy Name. The majority of the members of the congregation are Polish immigrants, he said.
So far, he has been a hit among parishioners, including Marta Medyna, who runs the church's "MIKI" program, which teaches about 20 children traditional Polish dances. The dancers also will march in today's parade.
"He is the nicest person you can meet - very warm, humble, smart - and you can talk to him whether you are young or old," she said. "He always finds time to talk to you.
Veterans Day Parade marshal recalls a lifetime of service
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WICHITA | An abortion protester who claims Dr. George Tiller intentionally hit him with his vehicle outside the clinic has sued the Wichita doctor in a small claims case that has attracted the attention of two court television programs.
Mark Gietzen, the director of Kansas Coalition for Life, is seeking $4,000 for his injuries for an April 2006 incident at the edge of the driveway into the Women’s Health Care Services. Two court television programs — Judge Judy and Judge Joe Brown — have written Gietzen asking him to allow the case to be arbitrated on their shows..................
Abortion protester claims doctor intentionally struck him with car
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A really dear and courageous man.
His efforts to comfort and love Terri
are forever etched in my mind.
Ditto.
It must have been Monsignor Malanowski who told (I’m paraphrazing) that he would pray with Terri each time he saw her, and one day he told her that since he was Polish, he would pray with her that day in Polish.
Terri laughed, which showed she was cognitive.
I recall hearing that, too.
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on Veteran's Day
Watching the parade, Strain awaited her two grandchildren, Ashley Strain, a Stamford High School senior who marched with the Black Knights, and Scofield Middle School seventh-grader Eric Strain. She also watched for her pastor - and the parade grand marshal - retired Army Brigadier Gen. Thaddeus Malanowski, 85, a retired Catholic priest and former Army chaplain.
"He's a wonderful man and a holy priest," Strain said.
Stamford steps out for Veterans Day Parade
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Although it was revealed by Rachel Alexander of Intellectual Conservatives.com on July 30, I didn’t now until last night: Canada Free Press (CFP) is ranked high among the most popular 100 conservative political websites and blogs for 2007.
Indeed as number 47, CFP is among the 50 most popular conservative websites and blogs.
~Snip~
It was three and a half years of one of our writers making it to Drudge, Michael Savage, FoxNews, Lucianne, the Gathering of Eagles, Melanie Morgan’s website and to so many others. It was having my column about Terri Schiavo read, word-by-word on air by Rush Limbaugh.
Canada Free Press makes it to most popular top 100 Conservative websites
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Thread by wagglebee.
MORE than 30 Britons have written statements confessing to helping friends or relatives to die at a Swiss euthanasia clinic as part of a test case to change the law.
Details of the admissions will be submitted to the director of public prosecutions (DPP) as part of a legal challenge by a woman suffering from a progressive form of multiple sclerosis.
Dozens admit aiding relatives commit suicide (UK)
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The lie is that decent Americans would want innocent lives to be snuffed out if they are in the way, and those same decent Americans would condemn anyone with the audacity to try to protect those innocent lives.
We see it repeated regularly.
Thread by wagglebee.
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new Harris Poll claims a majority of Americans favor the Roe v. Wade decision that allowed virtually unlimited abortions nationwide. However, the poll's question erroneously told respondents on three occasions that Roe only allowed abortions up to three weeks into the pregnancy.
Harris has asked the poll about support for the landmark Supreme Court case almost every year since the decision was handed down in 1973.
However, the question misleads survey participants.
Harris Poll Claims Americans Favor Roe Abortion Case, Question Biased
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Prayers sent for Ruoflaw!
They really showed their true colors.
Anti-abort but pro-euthanasia. Abandon the vulnerable.
Terri's voting blog won't go for Fred Thompson no matter how NRTL pushes his candidacy.
NRTL told us to take down our anti-Jeb and anti-Greer signs and told us at the Vigil the day Terri died not to say anything negative to anyone.
I havent' trusted that org ever since. They can be bought off as they were by Fred Thompson.
They tried to dictate to me to take down my sign and to censor my speech. Well, uh, that didn't work. Orly Salinas interviewed me and I hit all the politicans where they live. Orly was hypertenvilating.
Pro-life means from conception to natural death, not Fred Thompson's version of pro-life or the NRTL money changers. FV
Monsignor comforted and blessed many of us and held mass right there on the lawn at that horrid place. What a leader and fine human being.
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-parade1nov11,0,6518048.story?coll=stam-news-local-headlines
“NRTL told us to take down our anti-Jeb and anti-Greer signs and told us at the Vigil the day Terri died not to say anything negative to anyone.”
I was just telling my husband this, and he is just as surprised as I am.
Orly interviewed me live for Dayside w/Linda Vester but I changed "what I learned" when it was time to talk.
Shame on the NRTL to go with a faux-life candidate based upon his votes many years ago in the Senate.
Terri was killed recently - March of 2005. How can candidates not even acknowledge the festering ingrown toenail that is euthanasia and the ANTI-EUTHANASIA ADVOCATES?
I recommend Priestsforlife.org. They are not beholding to Washington DC politicians. Fr. Pavone’s organization is more true to protecting all life.
We vote in Terri's name because Terri had no rights and this disregard for human rights must cease.
Fregards, floriduh voter
http://terrisfight.org/
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