February 8, 2025

Elevance Health Inc (Anthem) Overview

Elevance Health

Elevance Health Inc (Anthem) is a provider of health benefits. The business provides administrative services and products connected to managed healthcare. The company offers a range of specialised insurance products and services, such as supplemental health insurance, life, vision, and dental coverage. The federal government, Medicaid and Medicare marketplaces, small and big groups, as well as individuals, can all use Anthem’s goods and services. Local Group, Individual, National Accounts, BlueCard, Medicare, Medicaid, and Federal Employees Health Benefits are some of its numerous medical membership clients (FEHB). The business holds a licence for insurance activities across the US and is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA). The US city of Indianapolis, Indiana, is home to Anthem’s headquarters.

Anthem, Inc. was the previous name of Elevance Health before June 2022. The company was rated 20th on the 2022 Fortune 500 based on its 2021 revenues.

Elevance Health Inc (Anthem) History

Anthem was founded in 1946 as Mutual Hospital Insurance Inc. and Mutual Medical Insurance Inc. in Indianapolis, Indiana. By the 1970s, the companies had greatly expanded, dominating 80% of Indiana’s market for medical insurance.

A cooperative operating agreement was established in 1972 between the two companies, which were then known as Blue Cross of Indiana and Blue Shield of Indiana.

The two businesses joined in 1985 to become the holding company Associated Insurance Companies, Inc., afterwards known as The Associated Group, however, the name “Anthem” was still used.

The corporation paid $150 million for American General Insurance Co. in 1989, and for $125 million in 1991, it acquired The Shelby Insurance Co., which was situated in Shelby, Ohio.

The Associated Group established Acordia in 1989 as a brokerage that offered insurance sales and customer service.

Acordia purchased Federal Kemper Insurance Company for $100 million and American Business Insurance for $130 million in 1993. Southeastern Mutual Insurance Company, which runs Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kentucky, was acquired by The Associated Group.

The largest investment bank in Indiana, Raffensperger, Hughes & Co., Inc., was sold to National City Corp. in 1994.

The Associated Group acquired Community Mutual Insurance, an Ohio-based provider of Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurance plans, in 1995, and went on to found Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Community Mutual Insurance had more than 1.9 million policyholders.

The Associated Group became Anthem Insurance Company in 1996.

Anthem purchased Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Connecticut in August 1997. Acordia was also sold to management.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Colorado and Nevada, as well as Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Hampshire, were acquired by Anthem in 1999. 850,000 additional policyholders were gained through purchases since 1996. There were 2.4 million PPO and 964,000 HMO subscribers among its clientele.

Anthem purchased Blue Cross Blue Shield of Maine in 2000.

The fourth-largest public managed health care firm in the United States, Anthem completed demutualization in 2001 and became public through an initial public offering in October.

The biggest insurer in Virginia and a Blue Cross and Blue Shield plan, Trigon Healthcare of Virginia, was purchased by Anthem for $4.04 billion in 2002. 11.9 million people are Anthem Insurance Company members.

In 2003, WellPoint purchased Cobalt, which included Blue Cross and Blue Shield United of Wisconsin, as well as Golden West Dental and Vision of Camarillo, California.

WellPoint, Inc. was created in November 2004 as a result of the union of Anthem Insurance Company and WellPoint Health Networks Inc. The way the merger was set up, Anthem bought WellPoint Health Networks and changed its name to WellPoint, Inc. WellPoint kept using the brand name “Anthem” to conduct business. In 11 states, it offered Blue Cross and Blue Shield products for sale.

For $185 million, WellPoint purchased Lumenos, a company that offers consumer-driven healthcare, in Alexandria, Virginia. The market leader and innovator in consumer-driven health plans were Lumenos. WellPoint bought WellChoice, a Blue Cross Blue Shield provider with headquarters in New York City, in December for roughly $6.5 billion, making New York the 14th state in which WellPoint holds a Blue Cross Blue Shield licence.

The Chicago-based radiology benefit management business American Imaging Management, which develops software to assist physicians in deciding on the most affordable places for their patients to undergo medical imaging tests, was bought by WellPoint in 2007. The top radiology benefit management firm, American Imaging Management (AIM), with headquarters in Chicago, was also bought by WellPoint.

Leslie Margolin was appointed president of California operations in January 2008. In July 2010, she gave her notice.

Resolution Health, a company that examines patient histories for potential medical issues such as harmful drug interactions, was bought by WellPoint in 2008.

Dental insurance provider DeCare Dental was purchased by WellPoint in 2009.

In 2011, CareMore, a supplier of insurance and care facilities for senior patients with headquarters in Cerritos, California, was acquired by WellPoint.

In anticipation of major growth brought on by Medicaid expansion under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, WellPoint purchased Amerigroup for $4.9 billion in 2012.

In anticipation of major growth brought on by Medicaid expansion under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, WellPoint purchased Amerigroup for $4.9 billion in 2012.

CEO Angela Braly resigned in August 2012 as a result of investor pressure.

WellPoint stated on August 13th, 2014, that it would be changing its name to Anthem, Inc. beginning in December.

The business bought Florida-based Simply Healthcare Holdings, a Medicaid and Medicare managed care organisation, in February 2015.

Anthem made a bid to buy Cigna in June 2015 for more than $54 billion in cash and stock. A United States district court decision from February 2017 barred the Cigna merger due to anti-competitive behaviour. Cigna terminated its merger agreement with Anthem on February 14.

Anthem announced in October 2017 that it would not renew its pharmacy benefit management (PBM) contract with Express Scripts, claiming that it had been overcharged $3 billion. Anthem said it would eventually manage the PBM process through its new IngenioRx division. It was announced by Anthem that it would sign a five-year agreement with CVS Health. Then, in March 2018, Cigna declared its intention to buy Express Scripts for $58 billion.

Gail Koziara Boudreaux was named CEO on November 6, 2017.

The business announced in 2018 that its headquarters would be expanded for $20 million and that a lease for its technology centre had been signed in Atlanta.

Anthem announced in March 2020 that it would buy privately held behavioural health company Beacon Health Options.

The purchase of the Puerto Rico-based subsidiaries of InnovaCare Health, including MMM Holdings, LLC (“MMM”) and its Medicare Advantage (MA) plan MMM Healthcare, LLC, as well as other businesses and a Medicaid plan, was announced by Anthem on February 2, 2021.

Anthem announced the purchase of Integra Managed Care in New York in November 2021. On May 5, 2022, the purchase of the foreign health insurance firm with headquarters in New York was finalised.

Anthem was renamed Elevance Health, Inc. on June 28, 2022, and the stock ticker symbol “ANTM” was replaced by “ELV.”

Controversies of Elevance Health (Anthem) Inc

Through the company’s philanthropic foundation, WellPoint promised to spend $30 million over the course of three years to assist the uninsured. The Los Angeles Times reported in March 2010 that WellPoint’s website and tax documents indicated that the corporation had donated only $6.2 million through 2009. Although the corporation claimed that the foundation had really paid its $30 million commitment by the middle of 2009, it would not offer any supporting financial information.

The Anthem rules for cancelling health insurance coverage were looked into by the California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) in 2007. To determine how many of Anthem’s cancellations of insurance for policyholders who had been given expensive or life-threatening diagnoses were lawful, the DMHC chose 90 cancellations at random. The agency came to the conclusion that these cancellations were all unlawful.

Although WellPoint did not formally admit guilt, Anthem Blue Cross and the California Department of Managed Health Care reached a settlement in July 2008. WellPoint paid $10 million to settle claims of wrongful policy cancellations and reinstated plans for 1,770 policyholders who were impacted by the cancellations. The business also pledged to pay any medical costs that these policyholders accrued.

According to Reuters, Wellpoint “identified women recently diagnosed with breast cancer and subsequently singled them out for cancellation of their plans using a computer algorithm,” in April 2010. In addition to generating a great deal of public concern, the revelation prompted President Barack Obama and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius to demand that WellPoint stop the practice.

In 2011, Anthem started cancelling plans for customers who had been paying their premiums using credit cards, occasionally without prior notice by phone or email.

Sovereign Health filed a complaint against Anthem in 2019, claiming that the insurer was utilising direct payments to force them to join its network on unfair conditions. Facilities for the treatment of addiction and mental health issues are owned by Sovereign. Anthem issued money to patients directly, some of them while they were still in rehab, as opposed to paying those institutions. The patients were now responsible for paying the facilities, which was unfair. It put the already struggling organisation in a perilous position, forcing them to attempt to collect often enormous sums of money from the very individuals they were trying to assist.

Elevance Health as Anthem was sued by the Department of Justice in March 2020. According to the lawsuit, Anthem provided false diagnostics information to boost its Medicare reimbursements. In February 2022, the matter was still pending.

Financials

Elevance Health announced earnings of US$3.843 billion for the 2017 fiscal year, with US$90.039 billion in yearly revenue, an increase of 6.1% from the previous fiscal year. In October 2018, Anthem’s market capitalization was over US$69.1 billion and its shares were trading at over $183 per share.

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