Nation’s Leading Health Benefits Company Launches Nationwide Partnership With America’s Largest Retail Pharmacy
WellPoint Partnership with CVS/pharmacy Designed to Educate Seniors, Provide Medicare Part D Enrollment Guidance in more than 5,800 Stores
INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — WellPoint, Inc. (NYSE: WLP) announced today that it will partner with CVS/pharmacy as a part of its efforts to help educate seniors about Medicare Part D options during the upcoming Medicare Part D open enrollment period. The partnership, which will encompass more than 5,800 CVS/pharmacy stores nationwide in 43 states, is one of several new WellPoint initiatives designed to enhance customers’ overall enrollment experience. The alliance will provide seniors with readily available resources and a convenient process for reviewing Medicare Part D choices and selecting a product that best meets their needs.
Through this partnership, WellPoint and CVS/pharmacy will collaborate to educate seniors eligible to participate in Medicare Part D. WellPoint will provide in-store distribution of Making Sense of Medicare Part D, an easy-to- use educational booklet. The company will also provide personal interaction and support through on-site agents at a number of CVS/pharmacy stores during the open enrollment period.
To strengthen its portfolio of competitively priced, value added products, WellPoint has expanded the number of drugs offered in its plans while also reducing the premium costs of its products offered through a number of its affiliates.
“Through this partnership, WellPoint will make it easier, more personal and very convenient for seniors looking for support to find the best plan, price and drug benefit for them,” said Joan E. Herman, president and chief executive officer of Specialty, Senior and State-Sponsored Business for WellPoint. “It is a key priority for our company to help educate seniors about Medicare options so they are confident in the choices they are making. Community-based outreach through CVS/pharmacy’s local stores is an important element of our focused plan to accomplish that goal.”
About WellPoint, Inc.
WellPoint’s mission is to improve the lives of the people it serves and the health of its communities. WellPoint, Inc. is the largest health benefits company in terms of commercial membership in the United States. Through its nationwide networks, the company delivers a number of leading health benefit solutions through a broad portfolio of integrated health care plans and related services, along with a wide range of specialty products such as life and disability insurance benefits, pharmacy benefit management, dental, vision, behavioral health benefit services, as well as long term care insurance and flexible spending accounts. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, WellPoint 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, New York (as Blue Cross Blue Shield in 10 New York City metropolitan and surrounding counties and as Blue Cross or Blue Cross Blue Shield in selected upstate counties only), Ohio, Virginia (excluding the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.), Wisconsin; and through UniCare. Additional information about WellPoint is available at http://www.wellpoint.com.
About CVS/pharmacy
CVS/pharmacy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CVS Corporation, is America’s largest retail pharmacy. CVS is committed to serving the healthcare needs of all customers by being the easiest pharmacy for customers to use, both in its stores and online at CVS.com. General information about CVS is available at http://www.cvs.com/pressroom, as well as http://investor.cvs.com.
SOURCE WellPoint, Inc.
CONTACT: Media, James P. Kappel, +1-317-488-6400; or Investor Relations, Wayne S. DeVeydt, +1-317-488-6390, both of WellPoint, Inc.
“Safe Harbor” Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding WellPoint, Inc.’s business which are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report or Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year, and the Company’s Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for each of the completed quarters in the current fiscal year.