Health Insurance Blue Shield-Hospital Insurance Blue Cross

Blue Cross was started in 1929 by Justin Ford Kimball, atBaylor University in Dallas, Texas. It was developed toguarantee teachers 21 days of hospital care for $6 a year. Lateron the plan was enlarged to other people in the Dallas area andthen throughout the country.In 1939 the term Blue Cross was used to include other plans aswell. Blue Cross is a name used by an association of healthinsurance plans throughout the United States. It was developed in 1929, by Justin Ford Kimball, at BaylorUniversity in Dallas, Texas. The first plan guaranteed teachersThe plan was extended to other employee groups in Dallas, andthen nationally. The American Hospital Association (AHA) adoptedthe Blue Cross symbol in 1939 as the emblem for plans meetingcertain standards. So as it stands today Blue Cross is an independent membershipassociation working on a service basis and providing protectionagainst the costs mainly of hospital care. Benefit payments aremade directly to the hospital. Benefits vary among various BlueCross associations. And then there is Blue Shield which, rather than coveringhospital care, provides protection on a service basis againstthe cost of surgical and medical care in a limited geographicalarea. The actual Blue Cross, which was a blue Greek Cross, wascreated by the artist Joseph Binder under the auspices of E Avan Steenwijk who was the Company secretary of Blue Cross andBlue Shield of Minnesota.The Blue Cross began now to be used in other parts of thecountry as well. At present it is a national trade organizationlinking 40 health insurance companies in the US, Canada andPuerto Rico together.Supposedly, Blue Cross operations are considered to happen asfranchises in specifically designated regions. At present theseservices are available in every state wihin the United Statesand every Canadian provinceBlue Cross is very prevalent in providing coverage to State aswell as Federal government employees and they are also veryimportant in the administration of Social Security. There is aproblem with health insurance in the United States.There is a conflict between the need for the insurance companyto make money versus the need of their clients to remainhealthy. This need to make money has become so uncontrolled thatone third of the population in the US can not afford medicalinsurance and medical bills today are the major cause forbankruptcies. This is why state and federal regulation of healthinsurance companies is necessary. On the other hand medicalinsurance companies could hypothetically face unforeseen eventssuch as the chicken flu where a large percentage of theirclients all of a sudden face horrendous hospital bills.Theoretically this could bankrupt the insurance company within avery short timeframe. So to prevent this situation medicalinsurance companies use a variety of checks and balances tolimit payments to beneficiaries.And of course it is a well-known fact that those seeking healthinsurance are also those most likely to have medical problemsbeing present or future ones. It is also known that if the costof healthcare to the beneficiary is very low than the use ofmedical benefits will be much greater than if the cost issubstantial.So to find the balance where medical services are available whenneeded but not abused to the extend that for every paper cut youwill make a visit to the doctor proper safeguards should be inplace.So in theory, if people would exercise, would eat healthy food,would avoid addictive substances, this would lower healthinsurance prices because the insurance companies would pay fewerdoctor bills.However, you could then also say that too much of the insurancepremiums would be paid out in executive salaries or kept asprofits by the company.