WellPoint's recently completed purchase of Amerigroup will boost the amount of government business it captures, BMO Capital said in a report Thursday.

The Indianapolis insurer said Monday it completed a $4.46 billion deal it first announced in July to buy Amerigroup Corp., which runs Medicaid coverage in several states. Medicaid is the state and federally funded program that provides health coverage to poor and disabled people.

States are starting to move residents who qualify for both Medicaid and Medicare, the federally-funded program for people over age 65 and the disabled, into managed care programs that coordinate their care. These so-called "dual eligible" patients generally have chronic or expensive medical conditions, but analysts and insurers see the population as a potentially lucrative business for insurers.

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