As president and CEO of Blue Cross of California, Schaeffer helped to orchestrate its turnaround and transition it into Wellpoint, which became the second largest publicly traded health care company in the United States. Under his leadership, Wellpoint has emerged from a struggling enterprise into one of Business Week’s top 50 performers. It has also been named the “most admired health care company” by Fortune from 1998 to 2003. By 2004, Schaeffer had built Wellpoint into a $19 billion operation and oversaw its merger with Anthem Health Care.