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The History of Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS)
The Blue Cross and Blue Shield brands are the nation's oldest and largest family of health benefits companies and the most recognized brands in the health insurance industry.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield Companies are the original architects of pre-paid healthcare financing, the forerunner of today's private health insurance system in the U.S. The Blue Cross brand originated in 1929 when Baylor Hospital's Dr. Justin Ford Kimball introduced a plan in Dallas to guarantee local school teachers 21 days of hospital care for $6 a year. The roots of the Blue Shield brand go back to 1917, when railroad and lumber workers in the Pacific Northwest began paying a monthly fee for physician services. The Blue Shield symbol was adopted to represent these services in 1939.
Around the same time, the Blue Shield concept was growing out of the lumber and mining camps of the Pacific Northwest. Serious injuries and chronic illness were common among workers in these hazardous jobs. Employers who wanted to provide medical care for their workers made arrangements with physicians who were paid a monthly fee for their services.
In 1939, the Chicago-based American Hospital Association began using the Blue Cross symbol to signify that health plans across the country met certain standards. The AHA continued to administrate the use of the symbol until the Blue Cross Association was founded in 1960. The two organizations remained affiliated until 1972 |
Over the past 75 years, they have grown from humble beginnings assuring hospital care to Texas teachers and providing physician care to lumber and mine workers in the Pacific Northwest. Now BCBS is the largest health benefits provider in America, serving more than 94 million people in all regions of the country.
These pioneer programs provided the basis for what would become the "modern" Blue Shield Plans. Enrollment in Blue Plans grew from more than 1,000 in 1929 to 3 million in 1939. By 2006, Blue Plans covered more than 94 million Americans. Through the years, the Plans have developed private and public partnerships unparalleled in providing coverage for America.
Theoretically, Blue Cross-Blue Shield operations are considered to occur via a series of administratively independent franchises offering insurance plans within defined regions. Blue Cross-Blue Shield offers some form of health insurance coverage in every US state and Canadian province. They also act as administrators of Medicare in many states or regions of the U.S., and regularly can be found providing group coverage to state government employees, as well as the U.S. Federal government. Thus a strong bond exists between the Blue Cross-Blue Shield entities and health-insurance policy-making bodies at the highest levels of government in the United States.
Some of the state plans have been merged to achieve economies of scale. Many plans are administered by not-for-profit organizations, while others are for-profit companies. The 14-state WellPoint is the largest Blue Cross-Blue Shield member, and is a publically traded company. Other multi-state organizations include CareFirst in the Mid-Atlantic and The Regence Group in the Pacific Northwest.
History of Blue Cross Blue Shield Illinois (BCBSIL)
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois traces its roots to the depths of the Great Depression and a group of Chicago business leaders who witnessed how relatively minor illnesses that required a hospital stay were ruining families financially. These business leaders saw terrible hardship in their community and they took action to alleviate it. In 1936, they pooled their own savings and launched a not-for-profit company called Hospital Service Corporation to offer an affordable pre-paid hospital plan, which was a new concept at that time. The Chicago Plan, as it was called, was one the forerunners of what we know as health insurance today. The idea, of course, caught on and Hospital Service Corporation eventually became Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois.
Medequote and Blue Cross Blue Shield Illinois (BCBSIL)
Medequote is located in Chicago, Illinois and provides BCBSIL health quotes and application services to Illinois residents. There is no fee for our BCBSIL enrollment services, plus you get the advice of an agency that has been selling Illinois health insurance for over 18 years. For more information please give us a call at 800-391-7469.
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