The Anthem Inc. board will ask shareholders at a May 15 annual meeting to remove the classified board structure to allow for the annual election of directors to be phased in over a three-year period.

Anthem shareholders do not currently have the right to elect each director annually due to existing contractual obligations with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

A shareholder, John Chevedden, also plans to put forward a similar proposal at the meeting.

"We believe there is no meaningful difference between the end result requested by [the company's] proposal and the shareholder proposal, as both seek to eliminate the classified board structure when we are permitted to do so under our contractual obligations with the BCBSA," the company said.

The board made no recommendation on the shareholder proposal.