Regional News/Northeast: WellCare Health Plans to buy more assets and other news

NEWARK, N.J.—WellCare Health Plans has an agreement to buy some assets of Healthfirst Health Plan of New Jersey (known as Healthfirst NJ) as the company enters the Medicaid managed-care market in the state. New Jersey recently granted the Tampa-based company permission to begin offering Medicaid managed care in Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Passaic and Union counties starting Dec. 1, though the CMS still has to give final approval. New Jersey would become the ninth state in which WellCare provides managed-care services to Medicaid beneficiaries. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2014. Since January, WellCare has acquired Medicaid carriers in two other states—Missouri Care, a subsidiary of Aetna, and the South Carolina Medicaid business of UnitedHealth Group.