Blue Cross Blue Shield Health Insurance
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Blue Cross Blue Shield Association is a company composed of many independent health insurance companies throughout every state in the nation as well as Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Panama, and Uruguay. These companies are independent franchises that address the health needs of each particular area (usually a state or territory) for which they were designed.
Some companies use only the name Blue Cross Association and others use only the name Blue Shield Association, but most independent companies are part of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Blue Cross and Blue Shield is America’s oldest and largest independent health insurer. However, the company actually arose from two simultaneous, but separate solutions for the health care of workers’ organizations.
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The History of Blue Cross Blue Shield
The BCBS Association began in 1929, when Justin Ford Kimball, the new vice president of Baylor University in Dallas, Texas, developed a health plan that guaranteed teachers 21 days of hospital care for $6 per year. Soon the plan was extended to other employee groups in Dallas, and similar plans began to spread nationally. He called his new organization Hospital Service Association. The Blue Cross symbol was first used to represent the new company in 1934 indicating hospital care for its members. In 1939, a Chicago-based organization, American Hospital Association, began using the Blue Cross symbol to signify that certain standards were being maintained across the country. In 1960, the two organizations merged under the name the Blue Cross Association. The two organizations remained affiliated until 1972.
In 1917, in the Pacific Northwest, particularly in the mining and lumber camps, an organization known as Pierce County Medical Bureau of Tacoma, Washington (now known as Regence Blue Shield) was founded. The concept behind this plan was that members would pay monthly fees to a medical service bureau composed of groups of physicians. The idea quickly spread, and in 1939, the “Shield Symbol” was created by Carl Metzger in Buffalo, New York. The shield represented the group of doctors who were participating in the medical care program. Using the shield symbol, the first official Blue Shield plan was founded in California in 1939. At that time, it was called the Associated Medical Care Plans, but was soon changed to the National Association of Blue Shield plans.
While traditionally, Blue Cross was used for hospital coverage and Blue Shield was used for medical (or doctor and care giver) coverage, the two companies merged in 1982,
after years of a mutually enforcing, but often competitive coexistence. The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association is now a network of independent, locally operated
insurance companies that together insure about one in every four Americans. The BCBS Association encompasses the full spectrum of health care services including
Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO), Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO), Prescription Medication Services, Medicare Supplemental Coverage, and
Medicare Part D (Prescription Assistance Programs). Some states provide Dental Care and Vision Care Programs.
Blue Cross Blue Shield Companies
Almost every state has community-based programs, many of which are free, to aid in health improvement and maintenance. Many states have incorporated programs that are free to all schools to assist in dealing with the increasing problem of childhood obesity. Many states also offer free, or low cost medical help, such as immunizations for medically underserved children. Almost all states offer specific programs for prevention and care for medical problems that are unique to their particular areas.
Blue Cross Blue Shield Association can be contacted directly at www.bcbs.com, but the best way to get the correct information is to contact Blue Cross Blue Shield in your home state.
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