WellPoint Captures Gold for Its Associate Wellness Program

National Business Group on Health honors company’s Choose Better Health associate wellness program

INDIANAPOLIS, June 26 /PRNewswire/ — WellPoint, Inc. (NYSE: WLP) announced today that it was been recognized as one of the best employers for healthy lifestyles by the National Business Group on Health (NBGH). The national non-profit organization of large employers honored WellPoint for its commitment and dedication to promoting a healthy workplace and encouraging a healthy lifestyle for its employees and families.

WellPoint was among 63 employers that received the Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles award at the Leadership Summit sponsored by NBGH’s Institute on the Costs and Health Effects of Obesity. WellPoint received a Gold Award for its Choose Better Health program, which recognizes WellPoint for creating cultural and environmental changes that support employees who are committed to long-term behavior changes.

“We believe strongly in providing our associates with opportunities to make better health care choices, with an emphasis on personal accountability,” said Christine R. Miller, vice president, Human Resources. “As a health care company, wellness opportunities for our own associates make sense from a number of perspectives: our concern for associate well-being, addressing health care costs and serving as a role model for our members.”

WellPoint’s wellness programs are an integral component of the Total Rewards philosophy provided to its approximately 42,000 associates. The Choose Better Health program focuses on six key areas that provide a holistic view of wellness: physical activity; weight management; nutrition; tobacco cessation; preventive and condition care; and well-being. Changes to the WellPoint environment such as offering healthy food choices across all onsite cafeterias and onsite fitness centers further emphasize WellPoint’s commitment to associate health.

“We are proud to recognize WellPoint for its commitment to a healthy workplace and for making its employees’ health and well-being a top priority,” said Helen Darling, president, National Business Group on Health. “Employers know first-hand that a healthy workforce is essential to increasing productivity and to maintaining a competitive edge in the new global economy.”

Now in its fifth year, the Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles award acknowledges and rewards those employers that recognize the urgent need to improve their workers’ health, productivity and quality of life. The underlying goal of the program is to serve as a catalyst to encourage all employers to take action.

About WellPoint, Inc.

WellPoint works to simplify the connection between Health, Care and Value. We help to improve the health of our communities, deliver better care to members, and provide greater value to our customers and shareholders. WellPoint is the nation’s largest health benefits company, with approximately 35 million members in its affiliated health plans. As an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, WellPoint serves 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 the Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee in 10 New York City metropolitan and surrounding counties and as the Blue Cross or Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee 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 www.wellpoint.com.

SOURCE WellPoint, Inc.