Wellpoint | featured news

Health insurer WellPoint Inc will buy rival Amerigroup Corp for $4.46 billion in a major bet on the expansion of the U.S. government's Medicaid health plans for the poor.

Private equity firm Fenway Partners says it is selling contact lens retailer 1-800 Contacts to health insurer WellPoint Inc.

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has called on health insurer WellPoint to stop dropping coverage for patients recently diagnosed with breast cancer, calling the practice "deplorable."

Angela F. Braly, president of WellPoint, told a House panel that higher premiums were justified by soaring costs.

The deal could still collapse, people briefed on the talks said, but if it goes through it would be valued at nearly $5 billion.