The story
Anthem
In 1946, Anthem began in Indianapolis, Indiana, as Mutual Hospital Insurance Inc. and Mutual Medical Insurance Inc. The companies grew significantly, controlling 80% of the medical insurance market in Indiana by the 1970s.
In 1972, the two firms, then known as Blue Cross of Indiana and Blue Shield of Indiana, entered into a joint operating agreement.
In 1985, the two companies merged into Associated Insurance Companies, Inc,, later called, The Associated Group, a holding company, but usage of the name "Anthem" persisted. In 1989, the company purchased American General Insurance Co. for $150 million and in 1991, it acquired The Shelby Insurance Co., based in Shelby, Ohio, for $125 million. In 1989, The Associated Group founded Acordia, a brokerage that sold and serviced insurance and employee benefit programs.
In 1993, Acordia acquired American Business Insurance for $130 million and the Federal Kemper Insurance Company for $100 million. The Associated Group merged with Southeastern Mutual Insurance Company, the operator of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kentucky. In 1994, it sold Raffensperger, Hughes & Co., Inc., Indiana's largest investment bank, to National City Corp.
In 1995, The Associated Group acquired Community Mutual Insurance, a provider of Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurance plans in Ohio with over 1.9 million policy holders), then set up Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield. In 1996, The Associated Group changed its name to Anthem Insurance Company. In August 1997, Anthem acquired Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Connecticut. It also sold Acordia to management.
In 1999, Anthem acquired Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Hampshire and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Colorado and Nevada, using debt financing. The acquisitions made since 1996 added 850,000 policy holders. Among its customer base were 2.4 million PPO and 964,000 HMO enrollees.
In 2000, Anthem acquired Blue Cross Blue Shield of Maine. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 made it possible for Anthem to undergo demutualization and become a public company via an initial public offering, which made it the fourth largest public managed health care company in the United States.
In 2002, Anthem acquired Trigon Healthcare of Virginia, a Blue Cross and Blue Shield plan, the largest insurer in Virginia, for $4.04 billion. Anthem Insurance Company reached 11.9 million members.
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Blue Cross of California
Blue Cross of California was the predecessor of WellPoint Health Network Inc.
In 1982, Blue Cross of California was founded with the consolidation of Blue Cross of Northern California (established in 1936) and Blue Cross of Southern California (established in 1937).
In 1992, WellPoint was formed to operate Blue Cross of California's managed care business. In January 1993, Blue Cross of California spun off its managed care business into a publicly traded entity, WellPoint Health Networks Inc. Blue Cross of California retained an 80% interest and voting control.
In 1996, Blue Cross of California restructured to a for-profit corporation, designating WellPoint Health Networks Inc. as the parent organization. In April 1996, WellPoint completed its acquisition of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company's group life and health insurance subsidiaries for approximately $380 million, making it the second-largest publicly held managed health company in the U.S. with 4 million policyholders.
In March 1997, WellPoint acquired the group health and life businesses of John Hancock Financial for $86.7 million. With this acquisition, WellPoint expanded its presence into Michigan, Texas, and the mid-Atlantic, and gained a unit that concentrated on serving the needs of large employers.
In 2000, WellPoint acquired PrecisionRx, a mail service pharmacy fulfillment center in Texas. In March 2000, WellPoint acquired Rush Prudential Health Plans, a Chicago provider, for $204 million. In March 2001, WellPoint acquired Cerulean Companies, the parent company of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia. In 2001, WellPoint offered to acquire CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield for $1.37 billion, including $119 million in bonuses to Carefirst executives. In 2003, the offer was rejected by the Maryland insurance commissioner.
In 2002, WellPoint acquired RightChoice Managed Care, a Missouri-based company that ran Blue Cross and Blue Shield for part of the state, for $1.5 billion. RightChoice also owned provider network company HealthLink. WellPoint also acquired MethodistCare of Houston, Texas and HealthLink. In 2003, WellPoint acquired Golden West Dental and Vision of Camarillo, California, and Cobalt, including Blue Cross and Blue Shield United of Wisconsin.
In November 2004, Wellpoint, Inc. was formed by the merger of Anthem Insurance Company and WellPoint Health Networks Inc. The merger was structured as Anthem acquiring WellPoint Health Networks and renaming itself WellPoint, Inc. WellPoint continued to use 'Anthem' as the brand name under which it operated. It sold its Blue Cross and Blue Shield products in 11 states.
In 2005, WellPoint acquired Alexandria, Virginia–based Lumenos, a provider of consumer-driven health care, for $185 million. Lumenos was the pioneer and market leader in consumer-driven health plans. In December, WellPoint acquired WellChoice, a New York City-based Blue Cross Blue Shield provider, for approximately $6.5 billion, making New York the 14th state in which WellPoint is a Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee.
In 2007, WellPoint acquired Chicago-based American Imaging Management, a radiology benefit management company that creates software to help physicians choose cost-effective locations for their patients to receive medical imaging tests. WellPoint also acquired Chicago-based American Imaging Management (AIM), the leading radiology benefit management company.
In January 2008, Leslie Margolin became the president of California operations. She resigned in July 2010. In 2008, WellPoint acquired Resolution Health, a firm that analyzes patient history for potential medical problems such as adverse drug interactions. In 2009, WellPoint acquired DeCare Dental, a dental insurance firm.
In 2011, WellPoint acquired CareMore, a Cerritos, California-based provider of insurance and care centers for elderly patients. In 2012, WellPoint acquired Amerigroup for $4.9 billion, anticipating significant growth due to Medicaid expansion under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In August 2012, CEO Angela Braly resigned due to pressure from investors.
On August 13, 2014, WellPoint announced it intended to change its name to Anthem, Inc., effective in December.
Anthem, Inc.
In February 2015, the company acquired Simply Healthcare Holdings, a Medicaid and Medicare managed care company based in Florida. In June 2015, Anthem made an offer to acquire Cigna for more than $54 billion in cash and stock. In February 2017, United States district court Judge Amy Berman Jackson blocked the Cigna merger on grounds of anti-competitive practices. On February 14, Cigna called off its merger agreement with Anthem.
In October 2017, Anthem announced that it would not renew its pharmacy benefit management (PBM) relationship with Express Scripts saying it had been overcharged $3 billion and that instead, Anthem would eventually handle the PBM process itself through its new IngenioRx unit. Anthem announced that it would enter a 5-year contract with CVS Health. Cigna then announced plans in March 2018 to acquire Express Scripts for $58 billion. On November 6, 2017, Gail Koziara Boudreaux was named CEO. In 2018, the company announced a $20 million expansion of its headquarters and the signing of a lease in Atlanta for its technology center. In March 2020, Anthem announced the acquisition of Beacon Health Options, and independently held behavioral health organization.
On February 2, 2021, Anthem announced the acquisition of InnovaCare Health's Puerto Rico subsidiaries including MMM Holdings, LLC ("MMM") and its Medicare Advantage (MA) plan MMM Healthcare, LLC as well as affiliated companies and Medicaid plan. In November 2021, Anthem announced the acquisition of Integra Managed Care in New York. The acquisition of the New York-based international health insurance company was completed on May 5, 2022.
On June 28, 2022, Anthem announced a change of its corporate name to Elevance Health, Inc. and also changed its stock ticker symbol from "ANTM" to "ELV".
Elevance Health
On January 23, 2023, Elevance announced that it entered a definitive agreement to acquire Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, increasing Elevance's footprint to 15 states and adding 1.9 million new members. In 2023, Elevance announced that it would rebrand its Amerigroup business as Wellpoint starting in 2024.
As of 2025, Elevance subsidiaries Carelon Behavioral Health and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield are the subject of three lawsuits in New York and Connecticut alleging that they operate ghost networks.
From Wikipedia’s article on Elevance Health, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.7