Headquarters: 225 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60601
www.bcbs.com

Key officers: Scott P. Serota, President & Chief Executive Officer

Few logos inspire peace of mind quite like the blue cross and shield of the BCBSA. The federation of 39 community-based and independent companies comprises the nation’s largest and oldest collection of health benefits organizations. Blue Cross and Blue Shield offers health plans and insurance to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. As a whole, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield system provides healthcare coverage to around 100 million Americans and contracts with more physicians and hospitals than any other insurance organization in the United States.

Some quick facts about Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association:

The original Blue Cross and Blue Shield were two different organizations. Blue Shield emerged in response to the chronic illness and injuries among workers in Pacific Northwest mining and lumber camps. Physicians would receive a monthly fee from employers to provide medical care to the workers. Blue Cross was developed in 1929 out of its founder’s idea for 1,300 schoolteachers in Dallas to pay for 21 days of hospital care by making minor monthly payments to Baylor University Hospital. The two organizations merged in 1982 to create the modern-day company.

Through the use of the “BlueCard,” members can receive healthcare services while living or traveling in another Blue Cross and Blue Shield service region than their own.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield not only fights to insure many Americans, it also fights healthcare fraud. The company seeks to root out fraud in the healthcare industry in order to keep healthcare affordable. In 2009, BCBS investigations yielded overall savings and recoveries of more than $510 million.

Sources: Bcbs.com, Hoovers.com

Compiled by Life Quotes, Inc. staff