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WellCare Cutting 100 Jobs As State Aims To Limit Medicaid Marketing

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By RICHARD MULLINS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 11, 2008

TAMPA - WellCare Health Plans Inc. will lay off 100 marketing and sales employees across Florida, company officials said Wednesday.

The cuts come as the state is set to impose new restrictions against health care insurance companies that market directly to participants of the state's Medicaid program.
Florida contracts with companies such as Tampa-based WellCare to administer health insurance programs for Medicare and Medicaid participants. Recently, officials with the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration have been concerned about health insurance companies directly contacting low-income, disabled and elderly participants in the Medicaid program.

In some cases, companies sent staff door-to-door trying to sign people into a contract, the agency said.

"That's not the appropriate way, and we've had instances where people just did not understand what they were signing up for at the time," said Doc Kokol, spokesman for the agency.

Instead, Kokol said participants should use the independent counselors such as Medicare Options that have nurses able to review health needs and guide participants to the right plan. Plan administrators would still be able to market themselves at health fairs and other venues, he said.

By January, those new restrictions against marketing could go into effect. With that in mind, WellCare executives notified employees of the cuts Monday, according to spokeswoman Amy Knapp. The 100 WellCare positions to be cut are all in Florida.

Reporter Richard Mullins can be reached at rmullins@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7919.

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