Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Unveils Community Resource Centers to Serve Medicaid Enrollees

Centers Will Provide Anthem's Hoosier HealthWise Members with Valuable Local Resources

August 30, 2007

INDIANAPOLIS - Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Indiana today announced the opening of a new Community Resource Center (CRC) in Indianapolis, Indiana to serve central Indiana. The CRC will provide access to outreach services, health education referrals, translation and other specialized services for Hoosier HealthWise members and their families. The Indianapolis opening coincides with three other CRC openings throughout the state in Evansville, Columbus, and Merrillville.

"We are proud to make a real difference in the lives of our Anthem members in Indiana," said John Monahan, president, State Sponsored Business. "Serving the Medicaid population requires highly personalized service. In order for our members to get access to the care they need, we have to help them secure other critical resources, such as housing, job placement, child care and transportation information that can help remove barriers to accessing that care."

Each CRC is part of a unique community-based model designed and developed by Anthem to deliver more individualized health care coordination to its members and their communities. Staffed by a dedicated, bilingual team, the CRCs offer local residents and providers a facility that can design health programs and services to address specific community needs, such as disease- specific programs for asthma or diabetes.

"The success of our healthcare system depends on all of us working together," said Mitch Roob, secretary of the Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA). "I applaud Anthem's Community Resource Centers for taking the first step by creating vital networks between Hoosier Health Wise Members, providers and other community resources that will help improve access to health care."

CRCs are also a vital partner for their communities. The Indianapolis CRC will award grants to five organizations that provide important programs and resources that help improve the quality of life for underserved people in the different communities it serves. These organizations include:

• Shalom Health Care Center
• Communities in Schools of Wayne County, Inc.
• Hamilton Center, Inc.
• Fuzzie Bear Child Care
• Dove Recovery House for Women, Inc.

For community-based organizations that would like more information about how they can collaborate with the Anthem Community Resource Center in Indianapolis, please contact:

Julia Brillhart, Regional Director, Indiana Field Operations
2425 N. Meridian Street, Suite A
Indianapolis, IN 46208
866-795-5440

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Indiana
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Indiana is a subsidiary of WellPoint, Inc. , whose mission is to improve the lives of the people it serves and the health of its communities. It is the largest health benefits company in terms of commercial membership in the United States, and an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, serving 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. 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. More information about Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is available at www.anthem.com.