Anthem will need shareholder approval to make the change because it owns Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in 14 states. The election is set for May 18.
The rebranding is a new indication of how many insurers now function as units within larger conglomerates that frequently include healthcare providers, technology or data offerings, and drug-benefit managers.
The new name is a mash-up of the words "elevate" and "advance." "We believe this name much more accurately reflects the business," Anthem CEO Gail Boudreaux said in an interview. "It's saying that healthcare is about more than just health benefits."
Anthem's core business remains the Blue Cross Blue Shield plans it owns, which will retain their current names. Anthem's health-insurance business generated approximately $121.73 billion of its $136.94 billion in operating revenue last year, excluding revenue from Anthem's insurance operations that flowed to Anthem's service units.
In recent years, the Indianapolis-based company has expanded beyond health insurance, though it has not invested heavily in healthcare providers, as some competitors have. Anthem has acquired Beacon Health Options, a behavioral-health company, as well as myNEXUS, a home-based healthcare management company.
Anthem also has a drug-benefit manager, IngenioRx, and has been releasing data analytics and digital tools, some of which are aimed at consumers. According to the company, it is expanding its services to other Blue Cross Blue Shield companies.
Diversification allows insurers to add potentially higher-margin and faster-growing businesses in the hope of attracting a premium valuation like that of UnitedHealth Group Inc., which investors like partly because of its large Optum health-care arm, according to Matthew Borsch, an analyst with BMO Capital Markets. "You should definitely go down that road if you can," he said.
According to Allen Adamson, co-founder of branding and marketing firm Metaforce, the new name makes sense for outreach to Wall Street and employee messaging. However, the newly renamed Elevance, like Facebook's parent Meta Platforms Inc. or Google's Alphabet Inc., may find it difficult to connect with its new corporate moniker, especially if they continue to encounter the Anthem brand through their health coverage, he said.
"It's going to be difficult to gain traction," he predicted. "From a consumer standpoint, it's unclear what problem this brand will solve."
Anthem changed its name from WellPoint Inc. in 2014 in an effort to establish a consumer-focused identity as the Affordable Care Act's health-insurance marketplaces opened.
As their portfolios grew, other insurers adopted a variety of branding strategies. UnitedHealth split its insurance arm, UnitedHealthcare, from Optum, which includes a vast array of doctor groups, data, a drug-benefit manager, and other assets, years ago. Optum has become a more consumer-facing brand as UnitedHealth has placed it on clinic and other provider websites.
Optum has grown to be such a powerful player that the Justice Department recently filed a lawsuit to prevent it from acquiring a health-technology company, Change Healthcare Inc., on antitrust grounds.
CVS Health Corp., which purchased health insurer Aetna in 2018, continues to operate under the Aetna brand. However, it launched ACA plans under the name Aetna CVS Health this year, for the first time using the pharmacy brand on an insurance product. Cigna Corp. unveiled Evernorth, a new unit that includes a variety of health services such as fertility-treatment coverage and mental-health offerings, in 2020.