Wellpoint Health Networks Inc

WellPoint Health Networks Inc., a Woodland Hills managed-care company that is the parent of Blue Cross of California, said it has completed the acquisition of the group benefit operations and CCI subsidiaries of John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co. for about $86.7 million. These units have about 1.3 million members, bringing WellPoint's total membership to 5.8 million. The acquired businesses will be merged into WellPoint's subsidiary Unicare.

Executives from California health insurance giant Anthem Blue Cross, under fire for scheduled rate hikes of up to 39%, insisted Tuesday that their premiums were fair and legal, and they told lawmakers they expected that the increases would go forward. Appearing before the state Assembly's health committee, the officials said that they believed rate increases for individual health insurance policies, delayed until May 1 while being reviewed by the Department of Insurance, would survive scrutiny by regulators The testimony came as members of the committee lashed out at Anthem for its proposed rate hikes and its corporate profit a day before the rate controversy moves to Washington, where a congressional subcommittee holds a hearing Wednesday.

Wellpoint Health Networks Inc., a Woodland Hills managed-care company, said its profit in the third quarter that ended Sept. 30 was $45 million, down 13% from $51.8 million in the same quarter a year ago. Revenues for the third quarter increased 42% to $1.1 billion from $772 million. For the first nine months of this year, Wellpoint's profit was $155 million, down 7% from $167 million last year. Revenues for the first nine months were $3 billion, up 30% from $2.

The parent company of Anthem Blue Cross, California's largest health insurer, posted an eightfold increase in profit for the fourth quarter and projected solid earnings for this year despite a recent softening in enrollments and revenue from premiums. WellPoint Inc., the nation's largest health insurer by membership, earned $2.7 billion, or $5.95 a share, for the final three months of last year, compared with profit of $331.4 million, or 65 cents a share, for the same period the previous year.

* Health insurer WellPoint Inc. said Leonard D. Schaeffer had resigned as chairman and was succeeded by Chief Executive Larry C. Glasscock. Schaeffer, 60, former chairman and CEO of WellPoint Health Networks Inc. of Thousand Oaks, relinquished his board seat a year after Anthem Inc. bought the company and took its name. * Hewlett-Packard Co. said the head of its software business was resigning after five years on the job.

WellPoint Health Networks Inc., the for-profit subsidiary of Woodland Hills-based Blue Cross of California, said it signed a tentative agreement with HealthCare Compare Corp. in Illinois that will extend WellPoint's medical provider networks nationwide. WellPoint said the alliance will add about 100,000 physicians and 1,350 hospitals nationwide to WellPoint's existing network of 34,000 doctors and 470 hospitals in California.

WellPoint Health Networks Inc.'s CaliforniaCare Health Plans said it withdrew its lawsuit against the National Committee for Quality Assurance, an accrediting group. CaliforniaCare, a health maintenance organization, didn't indicate why the lawsuit was withdrawn, and company executives couldn't be reached for comment. The unit of Woodland Hills-based WellPoint filed the suit in October 1995 after it failed a key medical quality review, The Times reported at the time.

WellPoint Health Networks Inc.'s $1.37-billion bid for CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield falls short of the nonprofit health insurer's worth, according to a report commissioned by the District of Columbia. CareFirst, which has 3.2 million customers in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia and Delaware, is worth $1.65 billion to $1.75 billion, said an independent consultant, Cain Bros. & Co. An earlier report commissioned by Maryland regulators estimated CareFirst's value at $1.

Tenet Healthcare Corp., the biggest hospital operator in California, said the state's top insurer would stop covering care at a company medical facility in Modesto amid allegations it performed unnecessary heart procedures. WellPoint Health Networks Inc.'s Blue Cross of California, which has about 6.8 million members, will end its contract with Doctors Medical Center of Modesto on Nov.

Federal regulators said the pending health insurance merger of WellPoint Health Networks Inc. and Anthem Inc. would not hurt competition or consumers. In its first public comments on its antitrust review, the Justice Department said the merger creating the nation's largest managed care provider would not give the company greater power to increase prices or reduce service quality.

The nation's two largest health insurers have been pressuring employees to lobby against healthcare reform in Congress in violation of a California law against coerced political activity, a consumer group alleged Wednesday. Consumer Watchdog in Santa Monica has asked California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown to investigate its claim that UnitedHealth Group and WellPoint Inc. pushed workers to write their elected officials, attend town hall meetings and enlist family and friends to ensure an overhaul that matches their interests.

Shares of WellPoint Inc. climbed after it became the latest insurer to report a steep profit drop but dumped no fresh bad news on investors wary of the sector. The nation's largest insurer by enrollment said it earned $331.4 million, or 65 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, down 61% from $859.1 million, or $1.51, a year earlier. Revenue fell 3% to $15.07 billion. The company, which operates Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in 14 states, said its membership fell by 288,000 to 35 million in the fourth quarter compared to the third as employers cut jobs.

Health insurer WellPoint Inc. has been barred from adding customers to Medicare plans after it denied prescription drugs to the elderly, endangering their lives, the government said Monday. The sanctions, outlined in a letter to WellPoint from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, followed a "sharp" increase in consumer complaints, the agency said.

A shaky financial market helped push WellPoint Inc.'s third-quarter profit down more than 5%, but company leaders said tough times could create buying opportunities for the insurer. The operator of Blue Cross and Blue Shield health plans said net income dropped to $820.7 million, or $1.60 a share, compared with $868 million, or $1.45, a year earlier. WellPoint reported a pretax write-down of $562.6 million, or 71 cents a share, from investment losses and declines. Excluding that and other one-time items, the company's adjusted earnings per share were $1.58.

WellPoint's former chief financial officer left in disgrace, but not empty-handed: His cash, options and retirement plans totaled $118.2 million, according to a federal regulatory filing Friday. The company even paid David Colby $116,692 for his unused vacation time. Colby, 54, resigned abruptly in May and has since been plagued by lawsuits tied to a string of romantic entanglements with women across the country. The bulk of his money came from $101.

Health insurer WellPoint Inc. cut its 2008 profit outlook Monday, citing higher-than-expected medical costs and lower-than-expected enrollment, sending shares 18% lower in after-hours trading. The largest U.S. health insurer by membership also cited worsening economic conditions and said it now expected to earn $5.76 to $6.01 a share for the year compared with its previous forecast of $6.41 a share. The revised outlook would reflect profit growth of 4% to 8%. For the first quarter, WellPoint cut its profit forecast to $1.16 to $1.26 a share, from an earlier view of $1.44 a share.

Facing a torrent of criticism Tuesday, Blue Cross of California abruptly halted its practice of asking physicians in a letter to look for medical conditions that could be used to cancel patients' insurance coverage. In a statement issued about 6 p.m.

Health insurer WellPoint Inc. is reorganizing its business around commercial and consumer units to tighten its customer focus, the company said. The commercial business unit will handle large-group customers such as national accounts. It also will cover specialty insurance such as dental, vision, life and disability, a spokeswoman said. No job or product cuts are planned with the reorganization, she said.