Colorado's Premier Independent Insurance Agency

303-420-4774

The Denver Insurance Blog

A wealth of information on all things Insurance

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) is a federation of 39 separate health insurance organizations and companies in the United States. Combined, they directly or indirectly provide health insurance to over 100 million Americans.[3] The history of Blue Cross dates back to 1929, while the history of Blue Shield dates to 1939. The Blue Cross Association dates back to 1960, while its Blue Shield counterpart was actually created in 1948. The two organizations merged in 1982, forming the current association. The company has its headquarters in the Michigan Plaza complex in the Chicago Loop area of Chicago, Illinois.

History

Blue Cross and Blue Shield developed separately, with Blue Cross plans providing coverage for hospital services, while Blue Shield covered physicians’ services.

Blue Cross is a name used by an association of health insurance plans throughout the United States. Its predecessor was developed in 1929, by Justin Ford Kimball, at Baylor University in Dallas, Texas.[6] The first plan guaranteed teachers 21 days of hospital care for $6 a year, and was later extended to other employee groups in Dallas, and then nationally.[6] The American Hospital Association (AHA) adopted the Blue Cross symbol in 1939 as the emblem for plans meeting certain standards. In 1960 the AHA commission was superseded by the Blue Cross Association. Affiliation with the AHA was severed in 1972.

The Blue Shield concept was developed at the beginning of the 20th century by employers in lumber and mining camps of the Pacific Northwest to provide medical care by paying monthly fees to medical service bureaus composed of groups of physicians.[7] The first official Blue Shield Plan was founded in California in 1939. In 1948 the symbol was informally adopted by nine plans called the Associated Medical Care Plan, and was later renamed the National Association of Blue Shield Plans.

In 1982 Blue Shield merged with The Blue Cross Association to form the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.[8]

Prior to the Tax Reform Act of 1986, organizations administering Blue Cross Blue Shield were tax exempt under 501(c)(4) as social welfare plans. However, the Tax Reform Act of 1986 revoked that exemption because the plans sold commercial-type insurance. They became 501(m) organizations, subject to federal taxation but entitled to “special tax benefits”[9] under IRC 833. In 1994, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association changed to allow its licensees to be for-profit corporations.[5] Some plans[specify] are still considered not-for-profit at the state level.

Current organization

Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield insurance companies are franchisees, independent of the association (and traditionally each other), offering insurance plans within defined regions under one or both of the association’s brands. Blue Cross Blue Shield insurers offer some form of health insurance coverage in every U.S. state. They also act as administrators of Medicare in many states or regions of the U.S., and provide coverage to state government employees as well as to the federal government employees under a nationwide option of the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan.[10]

The 14-state WellPoint is the largest Blue Cross Blue Shield member, and is a publicly traded company. Other multi-state organizations include CareFirst in the Mid-Atlantic and The Regence Group in the Pacific Northwest. The largest non-investor owned member is Health Care Service Corporation,[citation needed] which operates four Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans in the Midwest and Southwest.

Anthem Blue Cross was one of the first appointments that Mountain Insurance received. THey have historically been the #1 carrier for individual health insurance. If you would like a rate, click on the link below.

399 Responses to Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield

  1. Just happened upon your page and will certainly review other ones. Looks like real good stuff.

  2. It was certainly interesting for me to read this blog. Thanks the author for it. I like such themes and everything that is connected to this matter. I definitely want to read a bit more on that blog soon. Sincerely yours Carson

  3. Hello, sry for my bad english but Ih ave identified your web site and would say that I locate your posts great because they have give me new ideas and new aspects. Thank you for this details.

  4. Awesome, Awesome and Awesome, this website delivers what the google search tells me, this is very valuable information and has been of great help to me, thanks.

  5. Heck, I was very blown away with that. I told my Mom and she agreed. I would love to hear whatever else you have on this. Excellent! Bob Perry, Work New York, 65 Chambers Street, New York, NY 10007

  6. Fascinating…and I agree with all of it. Keep up the great work…I will certainly be back soon Bob Perry, Work New York, 65 Chambers Street, New York, NY 10007

  7. Hi – really good website you have created. I enjoyed reading this posting. I did want to publish a comment to tell you that the design of this site is very aesthetically sweet. I used to be a graphic designer, now I am a copy editor in chief. I have always enjoyed playing with computers and am attempting to learn computer code in my free time.

  8. Your perspective is fantastic. I presume that we really should continue this way and see this takes place.

  9. Hi, at the moment I’m checking with my iphone four new design and style tips and so I’ve identified your website. Your pattern is truly simple but also compare it in your posts. I feel I would use it for my initial draft. Thank you for this concept!

  10. I cannot thank you enough for the article.Really looking forward to read more. Much obliged.

  11. Lots of good reading here, many thanks! I was browsing on yahoo when I found your publish, I’m going to add your feed to Google Reader, I look forward to a lot more from you.

  12. Super site, and nice text.

  13. e-mail me off blog and I can assist you, eric@mountaininsurance.com

  14. Great information and facts, a lot of thanks to the article writer. It is puzzling to me today, however all around, the efficacy and relevance is mind-boggling. Very very much thanks again and also best of luck!

  15. I really loved this post. You write about this topic very well. I really like your blog and I will definetly bookmark it! Keep up the great posts! :)

  16. This post took me pretty long time to get through all the comments, but I really like the article. It proved to be very usefull . It’s always awesome when you can be informed and entertained by lots of these awsomwe comments.

  17. Amazing. Thanks for such a wonderful post.

  18. so well. Your Website is well thought out, graphically impressive and Complete of great Assistance. Kudos.

  19. I force to practice mi English as I required to say http://www.mountaininsurance.com/denver-insurance-blog/anthem-blue-cross-blue-shield/ is my favorite blog in English. You share me, I thank you.

  20. I identified this on google, thank you for writing this, it was just what I had been searching for!

  21. Great post, I just bookmarked it on Digg.

  22. Say thank you for promote rather fantastic informations. Your search engines is great.I am impressed by the details that you have on this blog. It shows how well you comprehend this subject. Bookmarked this amazing page, will appear again for much more. You, my buddy, amazing! I discovered just the facts I previously searched in all places and just wasn’t able to discover. What a perfect internet site. Such as this webpage your site is 1 of my new favourite.I such as this knowledge proven and it has given me some type of idea to possess achievement for some reason, so keep up the decent operate!

  23. You might have truly a interest very own posting design and offer you excellent information. The articles are wonderful to go through and you don´t use many ads like all the other bloggers.

  24. Pretty cool post! It was so interesting with lots of cool tidbit. Thanks for sharing the info.

  25. This is a great article thanks for sharing this informative information.. I will visit your blog regularly for some latest post.

  26. Thanks I got your weblink. Does anyone by chance have a backup mirror internet site or weblink to another source? The url does not seem to work for me.

  27. no, sorry, but thank you for the post.

  28. Hey – nice blog, just looking around some blogs, seems a pretty nice platform you are using. I’m currently using WordPress for a few of my sites but looking to change one of them over to a platform similar to yours as a trial run. Anything in particular you would recommend about it?

  29. Bookmarked your web site. Thank you for sharing. Definitely worth the time away from my coursework.

  30. This can be precisely the variation concerning the key popular media and websites. The articles or blog posts are well published and not corrected by an editor was. Which is the purpose why I love to search for information sites. The comments are often extremely authentic, we could all use a lot more fun reading. Make sure you go on like this, it really is really worth.

  31. Reading this reminds me of my old room mate. That guy was one of the smartest human beings I know, but he was a little odd for my tastes though. Anyways I delighted in reading this, thanks. Will give me something to go into when I see him.

  32. Well done! / Tim

  33. This post seems to be miraculous. I will perfectly utilize this post for my work and would be very

  34. Always interesting to read an original website. Thank you for the input . Of course, apart from the content , the design of your site looks really nice . Bravo .

  35. Thank you for for this great post. I’m always on the look out for content and was lucky to find you on Google I will surely be back againg to see what other great content you post.

  36. Very habitually I go to this webpage. It very greatly is satisfying to me. Thanks the author

  37. You write very nice,but the last two paragraph I have a little bit to don’t understand, can you please give me an explain?

  38. I don’t often comment on blogs, but just wanted to say I completely enjoyed reading. Thanks

  39. Well, the post is actually the greatest on this deserving topic. I fit in with your conclusions and will eagerly look forward to your coming updates. Just saying thanks will not just be enough, for the great clarity in your writing. I will right away grab your rss feed to stay privy of any updates. De lightful work and much success in your business efforts!

  40. A Quite nice article . Every time i read your blog i see a unique view. In addtition , as a fresh developer, i should mention that the structure of your blog is amazing . Could you post some information regarding the theme ? .
    Thanks .

  41. its explains the setup of Anthem across the country and the last paragraph states that Anthem has been one of the most decorated appointments in our agency.

  42. You publish extremely nice,but the last two passage i’ve a little little bit to really don’t understand, are you able to make sure you give me an explain?

  43. I’m happy I found this blog, I couldnt discover any info on this subject matter prior to. I also run a site and if you want to ever serious in a little bit of guest writing for me if possible feel free to let me know, i\’m always look for people to check out my site. Please stop by and leave a comment sometime!

  44. Thanks for posting about this, I would love to read more….

  45. Excellent post! I really like your writings, would it be okay to utilize it for Rss?

  46. Good quality article but for whatever reason your weblogs layout has a couple problems in the Flock v3.14 web browser. I simply wanted to tell you…

  47. Health is the most important asset and also the greatest of all living beings. An unhealthy animal and individual cannot truly experience joy. It is the wealth of health has got the potential to download all obstacles and continue living. As an ingredient of someone’s life requires great attention and concern. A great way to protect its best asset of the person for himself and for people who love is a sicknessPolicies.

  48. Hey dude, Steve here… Keep ‘em coming… you are doing a great job with this blog, inspiring many newbies like me… can’t tell you how much I appreciate all you do! – Steve

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Thank you……

    This article provide many tips. It is of use….

  2. Thank you……

    Excellent gift guide! Thank you for posting, also many can be used for other gift occasions….

  3. Thank you……

    It is a highly rated websites.I have bookmarked the web page and also I will tell my buddies regarding it.Cheers…

  4. Thank you……

    Presently what did you say? I considered necessary! Maybe to facilitate bidding transpire my inspiration on behalf of the week, keep it emergence!…

  5. Thank you……

    Because of reading your blog, I decided to write my own. I had never been interested in keeping a blog until I saw how fun yours was, then I was inspired!…

  6. This is my problem…

    Amazingly website, I like how your page looks! The layout is amazing!…

Leave a Reply