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Talk of the bay: WellCare to offer plans in four new markets

By Times staff
Published November 10, 2007

With federal and stateinvestigations pending, WellCare Health Plans Inc. of Tampa announced Medicare contracts in four new markets next year. The managed-care company said it will offer Medicare Advantage plans starting in January in Illinois, Texas, New Jersey and Ohio. WellCare, which has 2.3-million members in Medicare and Medicaid plans, was subject to a federal search warrant on Oct. 24. The company said it is cooperating with the probe.

Masonite closing plant in Tampa
Masonite, the Canadian doormaker with its U.S. corporate headquarters in Tampa, announced Thursday that it will closeits local manufacturing facility. The manufacturing plant, on W Clifton Street, is a few miles north of the corporate offices on Dale Mabry Highway. The company said it is consolidating its Florida manufacturing; it has another manufacturing facility in Yulee, near the Georgia border. The announcement came on the same day that Masonite released its third-quarter numbers. Though sales were up outside of North America, and particularly in Western Europe, they were down 24 percent over the year in North America, to $367-million. Like pretty much everyone else, the company blamed a deteriorating housing market for its woes; it already closed six facilities this past quarter. According to its Web site, Masonite has more than 13,000 employees worldwide, spanning North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Masonite also operates a display center in Tampa.

All about housing
James Thorner digs deeper into bay area housing news in his (Un)Real Estate blog at blogs.tampabay.com/realestate.

[Last modified November 9, 2007, 23:20:57]