INDIANAPOLIS, Dec. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- WellPoint, Inc. announced today that its wholly owned subsidiaries HealthLink, Inc. and UniCare Life & Health Insurance Company will combine operations, allowing them to offer enhanced and affordable products and broader provider networks, while continuously improving to better meet the needs of members. The new business unit will serve more than 2.5 million medical members.
“This combination of operations will allow us to create one stronger organization focused on providing consumers with more innovative and comprehensive health care options,” said Keith Faller, president and chief executive officer of WellPoint Central Region. “It also will provide us with a coordinated approach to health care that will help position us for additional growth in our Central Region.”
The new business unit will be called UniCare; however, both the HealthLink and UniCare brands will remain. UniCare will assume responsibility for non- Missouri HealthLink accounts, third party administrator and all carrier business, and most business functions. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Missouri will assume responsibility for management of the HealthLink brand in Missouri, including sales, service and networks. Both HealthLink and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Missouri are headquartered in St. Louis.
UniCare, headquartered in Chicago, Ill., is a national organization dedicated to the delivery of quality health care plans and products while providing managed care and specialty health care services throughout the United States. HealthLink works with carriers and third party administrators and contracts with physicians, health care professionals and hospitals in its seven-state service area of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia, Iowa and Arkansas.
David Ott, who served as president of HealthLink since 1997, remains with the WellPoint Central Region and will assume responsibilities as senior vice president of business development to lead a smooth transition as well as strategic network and business development opportunities. “With more than 20 years with the organization, I have built strong relationships throughout our markets and am committed to making this transition a successful one for our customers and associates,” Ott said. “HealthLink clients, members and providers will continue to receive tremendous service and value and we will have access to even more resources to meet the changing needs of members.”
David Fields, current president of UniCare, will lead this new business unit as president, and the headquarters for the company will remain in Chicago. “In integrating these two organizations, we will be able to draw upon the resources of the nation’s leading health benefits company to serve our customers even better and to help keep their health care affordable,” said Fields. “Customers will have access to new choices of products and networks as this new organization will allow for growth, innovation and improved service.”
About WellPoint, Inc.
WellPoint, Inc. is the largest publicly traded commercial health benefits company in terms of membership in the United States. WellPoint, Inc. is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and serves its members as the Blue Cross licensee for California; the Blue Cross and Blue Shield licensee for Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri (excluding 30 counties in the Kansas City area), Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Virginia (excluding the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.), Wisconsin; and through HealthLink and UniCare. Additional information about WellPoint is available at http://www.wellpoint.com .
WellPoint, Inc.
CONTACT: Tony Felts, +1-317-287-6036, or Debbie Davis, +1-317-287-5846,both of WellPoint, Inc.
Web site: http://www.wellpoint.com/
