Blue Cross And Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBS) |
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Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois is an insurance company that has been around since the Great Depression. The company was established when a collection of business leaders took notice of how even minor illnesses requiring people to be hospitalized were ruining families financially. These business leaders saw how difficult this was on their neighbors, and they decided to do something about it.The collection of business leaders pooled their personal savings in 1936 and launched the Hospital Service Corporation, a non-profit company. This newly formed company offered its customers affordable pre-paid hospital plans, which was a new concept at the time. This type of pre-paid hospital plan was referred to as the "Chicago Plan", and was one of the first plans that laid the foundation of health insurance, as we know it today. The idea behind the Hospital Service Corporation quickly swept across the country, giving birth to a new company called Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, as well as Blue Cross and Blue Shield throughout the U.S.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield is recognized as the most experienced insurance company in Illinois. The company provides its members, which number around 6.5 million, with affordable health insurance, as well as health insurance plans that are simple to understand. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, a division of Health Care Service Corporation, provides their members with a high level of assurance and confidence.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois offers various health care plans that are innovative, responsive, and efficient. One of these insurance plans, Blue Access for Members, is a group health plan that provides Blue Cross members and their dependents with the ability to look at their benefit summaries, claim status, provider information, and various health tips on the Internet.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois is an insurance company that has made the commitment to provide a high standard of business ethics that fulfill the company's corporate responsibilities to the communities they serve.
History Of Blue Cross And Blue Shield of Illinois
The roots of the Health Care Service Corporation can be traced from the very first pre-paid care hospital plan in the world. Justin Kimball, who was the vice president at the Baylor University School of Medicine located in Waco, Texas, founded this corporation in 1929. The business leaders in Chicago, along with hospital officials and physicians, used Kimball's plan as a model during the Great Depression to come up with a solution to the big problem of providing affordable health insurance for the members of their community.
These business leaders pooled their resources in 1936 and established the Chicago Plan for Hospital care. In January 1937, the company's first health insurance policy came into effect.
The company's plan caught on in Chicago, and the Hospital Service Corporation quickly grew to 36,000 members within the first 6 months. In 1939, the Hospital Service Corporation adopted the Blue Cross symbol and in 1947 the Blue Shield symbol.
The plans of both Blue Shield and Blue Cross, which were for hospital and physician services, were independently operated until 1975. At this time, the companies merged and became the Health Care Service Corporation. By the year 1982, all Blue Shield plans merged with the Chicago based plan to create Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois. Over the years, other Blue Cross and Blue Shield state plans joined the Health Care Service Corporation with Texas in 1998, New Mexico in 2001, and Oklahoma in 2005.
The Health Care Service Corporation is an independent license holder of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield association. The company provides health insurance coverage to more than 11.5 million members around the United States. The Health Care Service Corporation also offers many different types of health insurance plans, as well as life insurance products and related services.
