Elevance Health, formerly Anthem Inc

Anthem Inc. is a health insurance provider and the largest for-profit managed healthcare company. As per the Fortune 500 rank, it ranked 23rd; it was named WellPoint before 2014. This company was formed by the merger of WellPoint, based in California, and Anthem, based in Indianapolis, after several health insurance companies were acquired. The company was initiated in 1946 as Anthem in Indianapolis, Mutual Hospital Insurance Inc., and Medical insurance. After approx. Three decades, the company became successful in controlling 80% of the medical insurance market in Indiana by the 1970s. In 1972, the two companies (Blue Cross of Indiana and Blue Shield of Indiana) entered into a joint operating agreement. The merger was completed in 1985 to form Associated Insurance Companies, Inc, later renamed The Associated Group, a holding company. Anthem Inc. purchased American General Insurance Co. for $150 million In 1989, and in 1991, it acquired Shelby Insurance Co. for $125 million. The Associated Group created Acordia, which sold and serviced insurance and employee benefit programs in 1989.

Further, in 1993, Acordia acquired two companies, American business Insurance and Federal Kemper Insurance Company, for $130 and $100 million, respectively. In 1995, the Associated Group acquired Community Mutual Insurance and set up Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Community Mutual Insurance is a Blue Cross and Blue Shield Insurance plan provider in Ohio with over 1.9 million policyholders.

In 1996, The Associated Group was renamed Anthem Insurance Company, and in 1997, Anthem sold Acordia to management and acquired Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Connecticut. Further, in 1999, Anthem acquired Blue Cross, and Blue Shield of (New Hampshire, Colorado, and Nevada) The acquisition added 850,000 policyholders. In 2001, the company went public via an IPO, which made it the fourth-largest publicly managed healthcare company in the US. It acquired Trigon Healthcare of Virginia, the largest insurer in Virginia, for $4.04 billion. Blue Cross of California Blue Cross of California preceded WellPoint Health Network Inc., and in 1992, WellPoint was founded to operate Blue Cross of California's managed care business. In 1996, WellPoint obtained Massachusetts Mutual Life insurance Company and health insurance subsidiaries for approximately $380 million. And in 2000, WellPoint acquired PrecisionRx, a mail-service pharmacy fulfillment center in Texas.

In March of next year, WellPoint acquired Rush Prudential Health Plans for $204 million and Cerulean Companies. It was the parent company of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia. In 2002, WellPoint acquired RightChoice Managed Care for $1.5 billion and MethodistCare of Houston, Texas, and HealthLink.

In November 2004, Anthem Insurance company and WellPoint Health Networks Inc merged to form WellPoint Inc.; the merger was seen as Anthem acquiring WellPoint Health Network and continuing to use 'Anthem' as a brand name. In 2005, WellPoint acquired Alexandria (a provider of consumer-driven health care) for $185 million.

And in 2008, WellPoint acquired Resolution Health, which analyzes patient history. In 2009, 2011, and 2012 it acquired DeCare Dental, CareMore, and Amerigroup. In February 2010, WellPoint announced that the rates on some Anthem Blue Cross individual policies in California would be as high as 39%. This announcement gained worldwide media attention and became a major problem of the US's rising cost of health care. Anthem applied the raised rates next year, which increased rates by 68% on individual policyholders.