FBI raid shutters Medicare insurer (WellCare - formerly owned by George Soros)

St. Petersburg Times ^ | 10/25/07 | Kris Hundley

[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.

[Dante3]

Yes.

[8mmMauser]

Confusing or confused? This hapless writer almost tries to do the right thing, it appears, but got it from the media on Elian Gonzalez and Terri as well. I also note his pain to state the legal status of the parents. How PC! Life is so complex when one is a liberal trying to sound reasonable.

...................................

(SALEM, Ore.) - No wonder Gestapo CPS continues to get away with the attacks on families that it constantly perpetrates. There is clearly a very vocal contingent in this country to whom the concept of family and blood relations are meaningless.

This is the "Best Interests of the Child" crowd ... but of course what is REALLY in a given child's best interests are entirely up for debate.

~Snip~

The current case celeb in the news is that of 2-year old Gabriel Allred, born in Oregon to a drug addict mother and sexual predator father. DHS in this case rightly terminated the parental rights in one of the rare cases that the parents were actually abusive and harmful to the child. And again in one of the rare instances DHS is uniting the child with its blood family, in this case a grandmother in Mexico.

But the foster parents, Steve and Angela Brandt of Toledo, Oregon, southwest of Salem near the coastal town of Newport, who have admitted they became foster parents for Gabriel in the hopes of adopting him, are fighting this every step of the way, and they have no small number of supporters.

~Snip~

We seem to have learned nothing from the media circus that was Elian Gonzalez.

He, too, had blood relatives, in this case his Cuban father wanted his son back. and after years of orchestrated BS on the part of the would be kidnappers of Elian he was, eventually, at gunpoint, returned to his father.

Will we need to send in SWAT teams to get Gabriel too?

And we have Senator Gordon Smith and Governor Ted Kulongoski, proving that neither political party respects the concept of family rights, trying to force DHS to do that which its own rules preclude it doing - placing the child in a family other than blood relations if an acceptable blood relation is willing to take in the child.

Government officials doing their able best to interfere in private family matters and in the process trampling their entire concept of family rights.

Does the name Terri Schiavo not still ring in peoples' ears? Another case where government officials, and others, sought to step into personal private family matters where they had no legitimate business doing so. That case was in Florida. This case is in Oregon.

Different stage, different players, same old anti-family song and dance.

Gabriel is a US citizen by birth, with dual citizenship (he is also a Mexican citizen) If placed with the grandmother when he is an adult he will have every right, if he so chooses to exercise it, to re-enter the US.

But as a 2-year old child he belongs with his family. And in this case his family is his grandmother in Mexico. It most certainly is not the babysnatching Toledo couple Steve and Angela Brandt.

Oregon Human Services: Today's Gestapo?

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[8mmMauser]

Living wills come up again. And again, the example of Terri is used in the standard context, that if only Mikey had seen a Living Will prepared by young Terri, he would have just shrugged and decided not to kill her. I remind any new visitors to visit the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation and learn about the alternative Will to Live.

Special consideration should be given to the individual named as an agent — sometimes the best person for this job isn’t the person handling financial assets, but someone specifically suited to carrying out and respecting your parent’s health care wishes.

Families without this directive, such as the publicly known case of Terri Schiavo, can suffer through very difficult medical decisions. Therefore, it is truly a gift your parent can give your family by completing this document.

What to plan for as parents age

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[8mmMauser]

Thoughts to ponder in this thread by PlainOleAmerican with thanks to wagglebee for the ping...

...................Because the religious right is the most visible champion of social conservative values today, and the secular socialists have worked so hard to make sure that social conservatism is defined as some right-wing religious extremism, it is in vogue to refer to social conservatives as some mutant breed of social Nazis..............

Understanding Social Conservatives

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[8mmMauser]

Russians flee from abortuary knife in this thread by wagglebee...

OXFORD, November 16, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com)--A Russian couple who fled their homeland when doctors insisted on aborting at least two of their unborn quintuplets have seen all of their children delivered safely in an Oxford hospital.

The procedure required a team of 18 doctors Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital working in teams of five, each delivering a baby and then rotating to the next team.

The couple, Dimitri and Vavara Artamkin, decided to come to Britain when doctors repeatedly refused to handle the quintuplets' delivery unless the couple agreed to abort at least two of their unborn children. They are Russian Orthodox and reject abortion as immoral.

Russian Couple Flees to Britain to Save Their Unborn Quintuplets from Abortion

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[8mmMauser]

Right to kill gang trying to expand in thread by wagglebee.

ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss right-to-die group Dignitas wants to set up an organization in Germany to carry out assisted suicides there, Dignitas head Ludwig Minelli was quoted as saying on Saturday.

Minelli told Swiss newspaper Landbote that his organization had found someone in Germany who was ready to risk prosecution to offer seriously ill people a chance to get assisted suicides at home rather than having to travel across the border to Switzerland, where assisted suicide is legal.

Swiss right-to-die group to expand into Germany

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[8mmMauser]

Get the latest on the Margaret Sanger contest in the thread by Diago.

Margaret Sanger at Klan Rally Art Contest: All Entries In

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[Dante3]

BUMP

[Lesforlife]

Step on all of us is interviewing Fred on ABC Morning show
as I write (Sunday am 11-18-07) and George
said that an autopsy was done on Terri and she
was brain dead!!!

Despicable!!

The masses will believe it and no one will be able
to correct it. Calls to ABC news please!! Running off
to church or I’d post a number.

[8mmMauser]

Fred and Terri tar baby dailies...Coming the full circle!

The tide has changed, it seems! This from the Washington Post:

........................................

Former senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee, a 2008 GOP presidential contender, reentered the debate over Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman in a "persistent vegetative state" at the center of a national debate two years ago over end-of-life issues, saying yesterday that he would have preferred that she had been kept alive.

A legal and political battle unfolded over whether doctors should remove Schiavo's feeding tube and let her die, as her husband wanted, or continue to sustain her, as her parents wanted. 

~Snip~

Referring to the Schiavo case, he said, "I would side with the parents in, you know, keeping that child alive."

He added, "How could you decide otherwise, if they told you that the child was going to continue to live?"

A weekly roundup of the buzz from the Sunday talk shows

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[8mmMauser]

Fred and Terri tar baby dailies 2...

As I sought to make clear from the very first, Fred made a mistake in his opening position, but made a second one, in underestimating how the MSM would react to the guilt of Terri's Legacy hanging on their shoulders. Time has shown just how true it was. This more detailed article is from LifeNews.

...................................

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Fred Thompson set forth a more clear picture of his views on assisted suicide and euthanasia in a Sunday interview on ABC News. He said he would have supported Terri Schiavo's parents in their efforts to prevent their daughter's euthanasia death and he said court's should err on the side of life.

Thompson said the motives behind the actions Terri's former husband took to subject her to a 13-day starvation and dehydration death were "suspect" and he said he would have backed the Schindlers' efforts to save her life.

"From what I know about the facts, or recall about it, I would side with the parents in, you know, keeping that child alive," Thompson said.

"Based on the notion that I can't imagine a parent or a spouse or a doctor deciding anything -- if there's any question that this person might live," he added.

His comments are a more pro-life presentation of his end-of-life views and could help him regain his footing with pro-life voters upset by earlier statements.

In an interview with "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," the former Tennessee senator said that both courts and families should seek the protection of human life if there is any chance a patient might live.

Thompson said courts should only come into play if families can't come to an agreement about the care of a patient who can't make their own medical decisions.

"People have a right to make the laws in their own state to resolve these issues if families can't get together," he said. "If doctors and families can't stand at that bedside and make a decision, which, as I say, I hope would be always in favor of life if there is a chance for life -- if there is a chance for life. And if that can't be resolved, then it should go to the state court mechanism."

Thompson, an attorney and well-known actor, restated his opposition to a bill in Congress to allow the Schindler family to take their case to federal courts.

But, he said he supported actions in the state legislature to make sure that patients like Terri receive food and water as well as appropriate medical care.

"If the families can't get together & the first recourse needs to be the state government," he said.

"Congress took an extra step, said, 'We want you to have a federal hearing also.' The federal court, as I recall, came to the same conclusion the state court did. The point is, it is a family matter -- ought to be a family matter," he added.

Fred Thompson: Backs Terri Schiavo's Parents, Courts Should Favor Life

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[8mmMauser]

Fred and Terri tar baby dailies 3...

It all happened with George Steponalluvus...

Just days after receiving the endorsement of the National Right to Life Committee, Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson attempted to clarify his view on right-to-life issues in an exclusive interview on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."

When asked about the role courts should play in deciding such cases, Thompson reiterated his position that, "If the families can't get together … the first recourse needs to be the state government."

Fred Thompson Speaks Out on Right-to-Life Decisions

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[8mmMauser]

Fred and Terri tar baby dailies 4...

From the New York Times sampler...

In September, Mr. Thompson raised eyebrows when he told a questioner he did not remember the details of the impassioned, high-profile debate over whether to prolong the life of Terry Schiavo, a woman who had spent 15 years in a vegetative state; ultimately, an autopsy showed she had severe, irreversible brain damage.

Sunday Sampler Platter: Huckabee’s Record

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[8mmMauser]

A Christmas concert!

Headlining the event is acclaimed international Irish tenor, Mark Forrest. Also on the program are Michael Zabrocki, local New York City host of The Prayer Channel's "IcthusEQ" and Kara Klein, a gifted young singer/songwriter, best known for her moving song/video, "Beautiful Still" dedicated to the struggle of Terry Schiavo. The cast also includes the dynamic youth group, The Young Disciples Ensemble from Holy Rosary Parish in the Bronx under the direction of Rassaan Bourke, accompanied by Rich Berretta. Also on board is the incomparable, Andrew Miller, composer, conductor of the glorious "The Birth of Christ", filmed in Dublin, Ireland at Christ Church Cathedral, released on video by Sony Nov. 2007.

"Merry Christmas, New York City"

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[Lesforlife]

Now that he has the NRL talking points he gets it right.
Little comfort in that.

He sure didn’t correct Georgie boy on his outrageous
declaration that Terri was in his words, “brain dead!”

We should all be calling and demanding a retraction!

[floriduh voter]

I was contacted regarding FRED THOMPSON on abc's Sunday talkie with George S. Is there a transcript? I was told Fred in the end "left it up to the courts." Did Fred turn on abc back into the disability grinch?

Wait until the NEXT DEBATE. I believe Anderson Cooper from St. Petersburg may mention Terri Schiavo. How could he traverse to Pinellas where Terri resided until judicial tyrannists KILLED HER and LE helped (and Jeb and his big brother AND ALBERTO GONZALEZ - he was the hatchet man.)

[floriduh voter]

Breaking:MR. WHIPPLE DIED at 91. Dick Wilson don’t squeeze the Charmin.

[Lesforlife]

PTL!!! This should help straighten out those morons:

Terri Schiavo Was Not Brain Dead
Schindler Family Asks George Stephanopoulos and Mainstream Media to Correct Inaccurate Reporting Regarding Terri’s True Medical Condition

Contact: Bobby Schindler, The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation, 727-490-7603, info@terrisfight.org

TAMPA, Fla., Nov. 19 /Christian Newswire/ — Yesterday on This Week, George Stephanopoulos, in an interview with Senator Fred Thompson, commented that Terri Schiavo’s autopsy proved she was “brain dead.” The New York Times also reported on this interview, repeating that the autopsy proved Terri was “brain dead.”

This is patently false and Terri’s family is requesting that the media immediately stop using this offensive and inaccurate expression to describe her condition.

Terri’s brother, Bobby Schindler, says, “Brain death is an authentic diagnosis, not some catch phrase that should be loosely used based upon a ‘summary of widespread response’ or opinions that have been written about my sister. We are requesting that the media take a few minutes to research the facts regarding Terri’s case and, more importantly, her condition. In doing so they would learn that not one doctor ever diagnosed Terri as being ‘brain-dead.’ This includes those who wrote her autopsy report. All of this information is easily available and accessible.”

Rarely, if ever, mentioned in media reports are the more than 40 doctors’ affidavits submitted to the court that either contradicted that Terri was in a so-called PVS or stated that she could have been helped with proper rehabilitation.

The media also fails to report the medical records confirming that Terri at one time was beginning to speak, or the videos of Terri interacting with her family and her surroundings, all of which prove that she was very much alive, and very much responsive

Schindler added, “This has been a major problem with the mainstream media – not just that they are writing that Terri was brain dead, but how they continue to inaccurately and irresponsibly report blatant falsehoods regarding my sister’s condition.”

Schiavo’s autopsy itself proved that, prior to her death, she was never dying, was physically healthy and would have lived a long life had she not been dehydrated over a period of two weeks. Furthermore, the autopsy was unable to determine whether or not Terri was actually in a persistent vegetative state, as her estranged husband, Michael Schiavo, and his attorney claimed in their quest to have her killed.

Suzanne Vitadamo, Terri’s sister, adds, “If the media took the time to research Terri’s case, perhaps they would understand that she was simply a woman living with a disability, just like the 50 million persons living with a disability in our country today, and was in need of only love and compassion. The media’s continuing quest to somehow justify her death is offensive to her memory and even more offensive to the tens of thousands of people who live with cognitive disabilities similar to Terri’s.”

“Terri was a daughter, a sister and a friend who was loved by many who feel the pain of her loss every single day. She was guilty only of having a brain injury and being dependent on others for her care. Sadly, in today’s culture, this was not enough to save her from being killed,” said Vitadamo. “My sister fell victim to an ever-growing and dangerous ‘quality of life’ standard used to decide whether one should live or die.”

About the Schindler Family: Mary and Robert Schindler as well as Suzanne Schindler Vitadamo and Bobby Schindler now work for The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation in St. Petersburg, Florida, an organization dedicated to promoting the Culture of Life, embracing the true meaning of compassion by opposing the practice of euthanasia.

[floriduh voter]

Post 358. (listening to mp3 commercial of self on radio. got distracted).

[MHGinTN]

Schindler added, “This has been a major problem with the mainstream media – not just that they are writing that Terri was brain dead, but how they continue to inaccurately and irresponsibly report blatant falsehoods regarding my sister’s condition.” Bobby, the media have no soul, they belong to the father of lies a murderer from the start, they are doing all they can to give covere to the damned democrats and leftist death mongers who murdered Terri for their own political empowerment. They will not change that strategy regardless of how many letters are sent to them. Steponallofus knows damned well that Terri was not braindead yet he repeats the lie to give evil (read democrat party, mostly) the cover it needs to continue growing in America. The democrats have been empowering their party through the slaughter of alive unborn babies, they aren't going to flinch over one severely disabled woman they murdered for the same cause.