Anthem Inc. CEO Gail Boudreaux Cares About People

Gail K. Boudreaux in November 2017 was named president and CEO of Anthem Inc., a Fortune 50 company and leading health benefits provider, serving more than 40 million consumers through its affiliated health plans.

Money Inc. this month listed “10 Things You Didn’t Know About Anthem CEO Gail Boudreaux,” including that “she cares about people getting the healthcare they need.”

“One of the reasons that she has remained so active in this particular field is because she has seen what it does to people when they can’t get insurance to cover the healthcare they need,” Money Inc. wrote. “As such, she has made it her personal goal to ensure that more people get the help they need and that they get it as quickly as possible.”

Moreover, Boudreaux understands “how insurance companies think,” according to the publication.

“Obviously, she wouldn’t have had so much success in this particular line of work if she didn’t understand the way insurance companies process claims,” Money Inc. wrote. “The thing that makes her unique is that she’s able to bring this type of thinking together with compassion for the individuals at the other end of the claim in order to provide better results for everyone.”

Boudreaux has been a leader within the healthcare industry for more than three decades. As former CEO of United Healthcare, Boudreaux led the largest business division of UnitedHealth Group, where she had responsibility for roughly $120 billion in revenue and managed more than 60,000 employees serving 45 million consumers. Prior to United Healthcare, Boudreaux served as executive vice president of Health Care Services Corp. and earlier as president of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois.

Boudreaux was honored from 2008 to 2014 as one of Fortune’s 50 Most Powerful Women in American Business, according to Health Evolution. Additionally, she was named to the Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women in the World list, was recognized by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal as one of the top 25 industry leaders and included on Today’s Chicago Women list of 100 Women of Influence. Boudreaux was also named by Modern Healthcare as one of the Most Powerful People in Healthcare.

In Anthem’s second quarter earnings conference call with analysts, Boudreaux said that the company expects to increase its U.S. geographical footprint “meaningfully” in 2019, but overall, the largest source of near-term growth resides in Anthem’s ability “to go deeper and get stronger in the regions where we currently operate.”

“The group Medicare Advantage market is a significant untapped opportunity and we feel that our existing commercial business and trusted brand give us an unmatched competitive advantage,” she told analysts. Combined with improved Star scores and Anthem’s “innovative community-based programs and integrated clinical arrangements,” the company is “poised for growth” in the group Medicare Advantage segment, Boudreaux said.

“Anthem has historically been uncompetitive in this area, but as we look ahead, we are certain we can increase our market share,” she said. “As one of the most trusted consumer brands, we are confident that we bring an improved value proposition to the group retiree segment, a value proposition that will only improve with IngenioRx [the company’s new pharmacy benefits manager] beginning in 2020.”

She’s No. 31 on Chief Executive and RHR International’s CEO1000 Tracker, a ranking of the top 1,000 public/private companies.