WellPoint Pledges $500,000 in Hurricane Katrina Relief

WellPoint Inc. announced that the WellPoint foundations will immediately contribute $500,000 to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund to support relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The company has also organized an employee contribution effort in which the foundations will match 50 percent of contributions made by employees to the American Red Cross to assist in this critical time of need.

The contributions to the relief effort will come from WellPoint Foundation and the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation. Half of the contribution will be made directly to the American Red Cross while the other half will be made through a coordinated nationwide effort by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association who is also working with the American Red Cross.

WellPoint Inc., based in Indianapolis, Ind., 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.