<P> 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 . </P> <P> Wellmark is headquartered in downtown Des Moines and Sioux Falls . It has 1707 employees in Iowa and 171 in South Dakota . 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 . The Wellmark Foundation is a private foundation to support health improvement initiatives in Iowa and South Dakota . </P> <P> Wellmark insures almost 1.8 million Iowans and more than 300,000 South Dakotans . 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 . 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 . 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 ." </P> <P> As of 2016 the Board of Directors consists of 11 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, Timothy J. Theriault, Terri M. Vaughan . The CEO is John D. Forsyth . </P>

Wellmark blue cross and blue shield des moines ia