Information on Blue Cross & Blue Shield

The Blue Cross & Blue Shield Association is one of the largest companies in the United States, providing health care to more than 100 million Americans in the States and abroad.

History

• Blue Shield's roots date back to 1900, as an insurance plan for lumberjacks and mineworkers in the Pacific Northwest, though its first formal health insurance plan was formed in California, in 1939. Blue Cross got its start in 1929 as an insurance plan for teachers at Baylor University. In 1982, the two companies merged.

Function

• The Blue Cross & Blue Shield Association functions as an umbrella company for 39 independently owned and operated Blue Cross & Blue Shield franchises around the country.

Significance

• Blue Cross & Blue Shield provides various forms of managed health care plans for companies and individual members. According to the association's website, Blue Cross & Blue Shield provides health care to one in every three Americans.

Size

• Blue Cross and Blue Shield is by far the largest insurer of hospitals and physicians in the United States, covering up to 90 percent of hospitals and 80 percent of physicians, according to the association's website.

Identification

• Blue Shield is strongly linked to its iconic symbol, a blue shield featuring in its center the Rod of Asclepius, the ancient Greek god of medicine and healing. Blue Cross's symbol is a blue Greek cross.