WellPoint Health Insurer Announces Intent to Change Name to Anthem, Inc.

By Admin
WellPoint, one of the largest investor-owned health insurers in the country, is looking to rebrand itself as Anthem, the company recently announced. We...

WellPoint, one of the largest investor-owned health insurers in the country, is looking to rebrand itself as Anthem, the company recently announced.

WellPoint’s CEO Joe Swedish said the change was in an effort to better connect with consumers in a “radically changing” healthcare environment.

“As consumer engagement is heightened, we recognize that brand—an indicator of trust and a predictor of willingness to engage—is going to be of increasing importance,” said Joseph Swedish, president and CEO of WellPoint in a news release. “We believe it is important to call ourselves by the name that people know best—Anthem. Changing the corporate brand to Anthem is an important expression of our commitment to serve as a trusted partner in health. Millions of people experience this promise every day through the work our family of companies do to provide information and tools to empower individuals to better understand and manage their health. Trust is central to who we are and what we stand for as a company.”

The Anthem name will hopefully eliminate brand confusion among its 48,000 employees and large provider network, according to Swedish.

“This will help tremendously in aligning our relationships with all stakeholders,” said Swedish.

WellPoint is based in Indianapolis, Indiana, and has 37.3 million members. The insurer took the name WellPoint in 2004 when WellPoint Health Networks and Anthem merged. However, most of its plans carry the Anthem name.

WellPoint has moved more aggressively than Aetna and UnitedHealth to participate in the state and federal health insurance exchanges created under the health reform law. In the second quarter of this year, WellPoint added 769,000 exchange members, predicting profit margins for exchange plans to range from three percent and five percent.

Pending approval from shareholders, the change is expected to take place by the end of 2014. A special shareholder meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 5, 2014 in Indianapolis, Indiana for shareholders of record on September 12, 2014.

Share

Featured Articles

Hyfe AI uses acoustic AI in its digital cough monitoring

Hyfe uses acoustic AI in its digital cough monitoring. Dr. Joe Brew, Co-Founder & CEO of Hyfe AI, tells us more about coughing technology post-COVID-19

Siemens: smart finance to help medical technology growth

Penny Pinnock, Business Development Manager at Siemens Financial Services UK, discusses how adopting digital technology can support the healthcare sector

Healthcare Digital news roundup: prostate cancer & AI

This week in Healthcare Digital, we heard from experts in the sector: Trevor Dearing from Illumio, Avenda Health’s Brit Berry-Pusey & Vish Charan of Abbott

Lexica shares post-COVID-19 digital healthcare trends

Digital Healthcare

Medical devices expanding senior healthcare innovation

Medical Devices & Pharma

Abbott’s CRM medical devices can help cardiac arrhythmia

Medical Devices & Pharma