More than 85 years ago, Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies pioneered the very idea of health insurance, and they’ve been at the heart of healthcare ever since. Part of this proud history is the unique role that the Blue Cross and Blue Shield System played when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare into law 50 years ago this week.
At the time, no other entity in the country was equipped with the infrastructure or computing power to process the amount of data needed to turn the vision and hope of Medicare into a reality for the nation’s elderly. So the government turned to Blue Cross Blue Shield and we were there.
More than 19 million people enrolled in Medicare in its first year. Nearly 5 million were admitted to hospitals as Medicare patients, with each hospital admission and visit requiring claims to be processed seamlessly among the patient, the medical provider and the federal government.
Community by community, Blue Cross Blue Shield were there to help give birth to this innovation, and Blue Cross Blue Shield companies have brought security and stability to millions of Medicare patients ever since.
Five decades later, the independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies are still partnering with government and the medical community to ensure that Medicare continues to innovate, so it can remain successful for the next 50 years.
Read the full article here.
Contact Steven G. Cosby, MHSA, Group Health Insurance Broker and Agent with Cosby Insurance Group, with questions or to request more information and to schedule a healthcare plan evaluation, savings analysis or group plan solution for your company.
