wellmark blue cross blue shield wellmark blue cross blue shield s corporate headquarters in downtown des moines western gateway district . type mutual industry health insurance founded 1939 headquarters 1331 grand avenue des moines iowa united states key people john forsyth ceo products insurance number of employees 1 878 1 website wellmark.com wellmark blue cross blue shield is a mutual insurance in the united states with more than two million members in iowa and south dakota . it is the dominant health insurance in iowa . it is an independent licensee of the blue cross blue shield association . founded in 1939 wellmark offers dental and health insurance as well as life insurance . it will begin participating in the health care exchange for 2017 . 2 contents 1 history 2 companies 3 organization 4 economic aspects 5 rate increases 6 criticism 7 references 8 external links history edit in 1939 hospital service incorporated of iowa later known as blue cross of iowa began business in des moines iowa . that same year associated hospital services incorporated later known as blue cross of western iowa and south dakota was established in sioux city iowa . 3 in 1945 iowa medical service later known as blue shield of iowa was formed . in 1948 associated hospital services began doing business in south dakota and marketing activities as blue cross . in 1956 south dakota medical service began doing business in south dakota as south dakota blue shield . 3 in 1986 blue cross and blue shield of iowa purchased benefit administrators of america inc. a third party administrator which was the plans first for profit venture . benefit administrators of america was renamed wellmark administrators inc. in 1997 . 3 in 1989 blue cross of iowa blue shield of iowa and blue cross of western iowa and south dakota merged to form iasd health services corporation . in 1991 iasd health services corporation became a mutual insurance . in 1994 blue cross blue shield bcbs allowed its licensees to be for profit corporations 4 and the joint service agreement of blue cross of south dakota and south dakota blue shield expired putting the two plans in competition with one another . 3 in 1996 blue shield of south dakota merged into iasd to form a single company . blue cross of south dakota and south dakota blue shield merged into south dakota health services company doing business as blue cross blue shield of south dakota . in 1997 the companies were branded as wellmark blue cross and blue shield of iowa and wellmark blue cross and blue shield of south dakota . 3 companies edit wellmark is headquartered in downtown des moines and sioux falls . it has 1707 employees in iowa and 171 in south dakota . 5 it consists of wellmark blue cross and blue shield of iowa wellmark of south dakota inc. doing business as wellmark blue cross and blue shield of south dakota and wellmark health plan of iowa inc. 5 the wellmark foundation is a private foundation to support health improvement initiatives in iowa and south dakota . wellmark insures almost 1.8 million iowans and more than 300 000 south dakotans . 5 it is iowa s largest and dominant insurer but has not participated in the government s health care exchange for two years in a row . 6 during its open enrollment period from october 1 2013 to march 31 2014 more than 41 000 people in iowa and south dakota enrolled in 24 000 affordable care act compliant health plans by wellmark . 7 cliff gold former wellmark employee then chief operating officer of iowa s cooportunity said that they have denied consistently that they ... push bad risk into the exchanges . 6 organization edit as of 2014 update the board of directors consists of 10 members namely thomas m. cink melanie c. dreher john d. forsyth daryl k. henze william c. curt hunter paul e. larson angeline m. lavin terrence j. mulligan dave neil terri m. vaughan . the ceo is john d. forsyth . 3 economic aspects edit wellmark s credit rating from standard and poor s was a strong . according to wellmark s 2013 balance sheet its assets were 2 357 637 its liabilities 1 003 329 and its reserves were 1 354 308 . 5 as of 2014 wellmark explains that premiums are spent as follows 86.6 % on payment for health care services 7.6 % for administrative services 3.9 % on commissions 1.3 % for earnings on premiums and 0.4 % on premium tax . 5 as of 2014 update wellmark health plan of iowa had to rebate 651 895 to customers because it did not meet specifications of the 80 20 rule in the affordable care act which requires insurers to spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on patient care and quality improvement activities . 8 most rebates in iowa 1.1 million were owed by coventry healthcare of iowa inc. 8 rate increases edit wellmark raised premiums on individual policy holders by between 12 and 13 percent in 2013 9.4 percent in 2012 8.5 percent in 2011 and 18 percent in 2010 . 9 as of june 2014 wellmark is seeking to increase rates again apparently by less than 5.9 percent for the majority of insured and by 11.9 percent and 14.5 percent for people enrolled after the affordable care act went into effect . 9 rate increases above average per csa require a public hearing in front of the iowa commissioner of insurance ; in 2013 the commission received a total of 300 comments 240 of which expressed rate increase weariness and that some increases reached nearly 50 percent since 2010 . 10 the second most common comment had to do with affordability and the third highest reoccurring comment was wellmark s discretionary spending . individual comments criticized the chairman s salary of 3.1 million 10 28 the insurance division s actuary and an independent actuary reviewed wellmark s data and both found the rate request was not discriminatory but was supported by the data . 10 criticism edit in 2010 wellmark opened its 250 million headquarters and at the same time raising premiums by double digit percentages annually . 11 the ceo justified the reserves or found them possibly even a bit too low considering that wellmark pays out more than 5 billion per year in claims . 11 references edit http www.wellmark.com aboutwellmark companyinformation fastfacts.aspx employees . missing or empty title help tony leys 10 5 15 . wellmark to sell policies on obamacare exchange for 2017 . retrieved 11 january 2016 . check date values in date help a b c d e f history . wellmark . 2014 . retrieved 24 june 2014 . coordinated issue paper blue cross blue shield health insurance ; life insurance conversion of nonprofit corporations . 4 june 2008 archived july 23 2012 at the wayback machine . a b c d e fast facts . wellmark . 2014 . retrieved 24 june 2014 . a b patane matthew 20 june 2014 . wellmark won t join health insurance exchange in 2015 . des moines register . retrieved 24 june 2014 . chelsea keenan 19 may 2014 . wellmark enrolls 41 000 in iowa south dakota . the gazette . retrieved 18 december 2014 . a b deirdre baker 24 july 2014 . consumers due rebates now from health insurers . quad city times . quad city times . retrieved 18 december 2014 . a b patane matthew 20 june 2014 . wellmark seeks insurance rate increases . des moines register . retrieved 24 june 2014 . a b c 2013 hearing transcript . pdf . iowa insurance commission . 5 january 2013 . p. 90 . retrieved 24 june 2014 . a b leys tony 29 december 2013 . forsyth responds to three criticisms of wellmark . des moines register . retrieved 24 june 2014 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wellmark blue cross blue shield & oldid 729730110 categories organizations based in des moines iowahealth insurance in the united statesmembers of blue cross blue shield associationhidden categories pages with citations lacking titlespages with citations having bare urlscs1 errors datesarticles with wayback machine linksarticles containing potentially dated statements from 2014all articles containing potentially dated statements navigation menu 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