2013-02-04 14:33:25 -

Company Names South Carolina Leadership

TAMPA, Fla. (Feb. 4, 2013) - WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE: WCG) today
announced that it has completed the acquisition of UnitedHealthcare's Medicaid
business in South Carolina.

On Oct. 31, 2012, WellCare stated that it had entered into an agreement to
acquire the plan. The plan operates in 39 of the state's 46 counties, including
the Columbia and Greenville metropolitan areas, through the South Carolina
Healthy Connections Choices program.

Plan members will remain enrolled, will experience no changes in their plan
benefits, and customer service processes and procedures will remain the same.
Plan members can continue to call 1-800-414-9025 if they have any questions.
Providers will also remain enrolled and will experience no changes in processes
and procedures. Providers can call 1-800-600-9007 if they have any questions.

WellCare   has also announced the appointments of Dave Shafer to state president,
South Carolina, and Kathy Warner to state chief operating officer, South
Carolina.

Shafer joined WellCare on Jan. 31. Prior to this, he served as a consultant for
Providias, LLC, after serving as senior vice president of health insurance for
Principal Financial Group. Previously, Shafer was president of pharmacy benefit
management for CIGNA. He also served in several leadership positions for
UnitedHealth Group from 1995 to 2005, including executive vice president,
national operations for AmeriChoice. Shafer will report to Jesse Thomas,
president of WellCare's South Division.

Warner was previously WellCare's vice president of field network management for
Georgia. She also served as market COO for central and southwest Georgia. Before
joining WellCare in 2006, she served in several leadership roles for Columbus
Regional Healthcare System, including CFO and director of managed care
contracting from 1995 to 2005. Warner will report to Shafer.

"We have put in place a leadership team that can leverage our presence in South
Carolina across all lines of business," said Thomas. "Dave and Kathy's
experience driving growth and profitability in managed health care environments
will bring a strong focus to delivering quality, health care solutions that will
benefit our government customers and members."

About WellCare Health Plans, Inc.
WellCare Health Plans, Inc. provides managed care services targeted to
government-sponsored health care programs, focusing on Medicaid and Medicare.
Headquartered in Tampa, Florida, WellCare offers a variety of health plans for
families, children, and the aged, blind, and disabled, as well as prescription
drug plans. The company serves approximately 2.6 million members nationwide as
of Sept. 30, 2012. For more information about WellCare, please visit the
company's website at www.wellcare.com.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains "forward-looking" statements that are made pursuant
to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Statements that are predictive in nature, that depend upon or refer to
future events or conditions, or that include words such as "expects,"
"anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes,"
"estimates," and similar
expressions are forward-looking statements. For example, statements regarding
the leadership leveraging our presence in South Carolina across all lines of
business and the strong focus to delivering quality, health care solutions that
will benefit our government customers and members are forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and
uncertainties that may cause WellCare's actual future results to differ
materially from those projected or contemplated in the forward-looking
statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to,
WellCare's ability to address operational challenges relating to new business,
WellCare's progress on top priorities such as improving health care quality and
access, ensuring a competitive cost position, and delivering prudent, profitable
growth, WellCare's ability to compete for members, WellCare's ability to build
and maintain satisfactory relationships with providers, and WellCare's ability
to effectively manage growth.

Additional information concerning these and other important risks and
uncertainties can be found under the captions "Forward-Looking Statements" and
"Risk Factors" in WellCare's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec.
31, 2011, and in WellCare's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended
Sept. 30, 2012  and other subsequent filings by WellCare with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission, which contain discussions of WellCare's
business and the various factors that may affect it. WellCare undertakes no duty
to update these forward-looking statements to reflect any future events,
developments, or otherwise.

                                     -END-

CONTACTS:
Investor Relations
Gregg Haddad
813-206-3916
gregg.haddad@wellcare.com

Media Relations
Crystal Warwell Walker
813-206-2697
crystal.walker@wellcare.com


WellCare Completes Acquisition Of South Carolina Medicaid Plan: 
 hugin.info/145241/R/1675141/545616.pdf



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Source: WellCare Health Plans, Inc. via Thomson Reuters ONE
[HUG#1675141]