$580 Billion in New Medicaid Opportunities: WellPoint CFO

Health-care reform will create $580 billion in potential new Medicaid revenue opportunities in the next five years, Wayne Deveydt, CFO at health insurer WellPoint, told CNBC.

“Today, you have over $450 billion being spent by states around Medicaid, but only 20% of that is being outsourced to private players like WellPoint and Amerigroup,” Deveydt said. “With the Affordable Care Act expansion, that number will go up by $130 billion.”

Deveydt said the timing of Monday’s announced acquisition of rival Amerigroup for $4.46 billion was less about the recent Supreme Court ruling upholding Obamacare and more about the growing population of "dual eligibles" — those low-income elderly Americans and people with disabilities who are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid.

“We were more interested in which the pace of the dual population was coming forward,” he said. “When you look at WellPoint and took our two largest dual opportunity states, California and New York, and add in Amerigroup’s two largest dual states, Texas and Florida, you’re looking at over $100 billion of dual revenues coming up over the next several years.”

“Individually, we had great assets, but collectively we really have assets that meet the market needs that no one can replicate,” Deveydt said.