[11] In 1989, The Associated Group founded Acordia, a brokerage that sold and serviced insurance and employee benefit programs.

[26][27] In 1996, Blue Cross of California restructured to a for-profit corporation, designating WellPoint Health Networks Inc. as the parent organization.

[28] 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.

[29] 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.

[33] In March 2000, WellPoint acquired Rush Prudential Health Plans, a Chicago provider, for $204 million.

[47] In 2008, WellPoint acquired Resolution Health, a firm that analyzes patient history for potential medical problems such as adverse drug interactions.

[49] In 2011, WellPoint acquired CareMore, a Cerritos, California-based provider of insurance and care centers for elderly patients.

[50] In 2012, WellPoint acquired Amerigroup for $4.9 billion, anticipating significant growth due to Medicaid expansion under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

[58][59] In February 2017, United States district court Judge Amy Berman Jackson blocked the Cigna merger on grounds of anti-competitive practices.

[72] Elevance Health includes the following subsidiaries:[73][74] Elevance Health operates joint ventures including:[73] In 2011, in the category of "Meeting National Standards of Care," California's state patient advocacy office gave Anthem a rating of 2 out of 4 stars.

In March 2010, the Los Angeles Times reported that WellPoint's tax records and website showed that the company had given only $6.2 million by 2009.

[79][80] In July 2008, Anthem Blue Cross agreed to a settlement with the California Department of Managed Health Care; however in doing so, WellPoint did not officially admit liability.

[81] In April 2010, Reuters alleged that Wellpoint "using a computer algorithm, identified women recently diagnosed with breast cancer and then singled them out for cancellation of their policies.

"[82][83] The software used immediately triggered fraud investigation for those recently diagnosed with the disease as the company searched for some pretext to drop their policies.

[85] The story not only caused considerable public outrage, but it also led Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, and President Barack Obama, to call on WellPoint to end the practice.

[88] In August 2009, Anthem, the largest for-profit insurer in California, contacted its employees and urged them to get involved to oppose healthcare reforms proposed during the Obama administration.

Consumer Watchdog, a nonprofit watchdog organization in Santa Monica, asked California Attorney General Jerry Brown to investigate its claim that WellPoint had illegally pushed workers to write to their elected officials, attend town hall meetings and enlist family and friends to ensure an overhaul that would match the firm's interests.

According to Consumer Watchdog, California's labor code directly prohibits coercive communications, including forbidding employers from controlling, coercing or influencing employees' political activities or affiliations.

[93] In February 2010, WellPoint announced that rates would increase on some Anthem Blue Cross individual policies in California by as high as 39%.

Consequently, the remaining risk pool became sicker and thus more expensive to insure; and, in turn, prices were forced up and pushed more people out of the market.

[96] Senator Dianne Feinstein of California proposed giving the Federal government of the United States authority to block insurance premium hikes that it considers to be "unjustified".

After a routine upgrade in October 2009, a third-party vendor stated that all security measures had been properly reinstated, when in fact they had not.

After a Los Angeles-area woman found that her application for coverage was publicly available, she filed a class action lawsuit against Anthem.

Michael Daniel, chief adviser on cybersecurity for President Barack Obama, said he would be changing his own password.

[114] According to a 2013 report by the Journal of the American Medical Association, 87 percent of patients initially triaged as non-urgent ended up with a diagnosis that constituted an emergency.

[115] Critics derided the scheme, citing that it was unlawful by federal law to cover a person based on diagnosis, not symptoms.

[114] In 2017, the California Department of Managed Health Care fined the company $5 million for untimely response to consumer complaints.

The lawsuit alleges that Anthem had submitted inaccurate diagnostics data in order to obtain increased Medicare reimbursements.