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frank vanderlugt

About The Blue Cross Blue Cross was started in 1929 by Justin

Ford Kimball, at Baylor University in Dallas, Texas. It was

developed to guarantee teachers 21 days of hospital care for $6

a year. Later on the plan was enlarged to other people in the

Dallas area and then throughout the country.

In 1939 the term Blue Cross was used to include other plans as

well. Blue Cross is a name used by an association of health

insurance plans throughout the United States.

It was developed in 1929, by Justin Ford Kimball, at Baylor

University in Dallas, Texas. The first plan guaranteed teachers

The plan was extended to other employee groups in Dallas, and

then nationally. The American Hospital Association (AHA) adopted

the Blue Cross symbol in 1939 as the emblem for plans meeting

certain standards.

So as it stands today Blue Cross is an independent membership

association working on a service basis and providing protection

against the costs mainly of hospital care. Benefit payments are

made directly to the hospital. Benefits vary among various Blue

Cross associations.

And then there is Blue Shield which, rather than covering

hospital care, provides protection on a service basis against

the cost of surgical and medical care in a limited geographical

area. The actual Blue Cross, which was a blue Greek Cross, was

created by the artist Joseph Binder under the auspices of E A

van Steenwijk who was the Company secretary of Blue Cross and

Blue Shield of Minnesota.

The Blue Cross began now to be used in other parts of the

country as well. At present it is a national trade organization

linking 40 health insurance companies in the US, Canada and

Puerto Rico together.

Supposedly, Blue Cross operations are considered to happen as

franchises in specifically designated regions. At present these

services are available in every state wihin the United States

and every Canadian province

Blue Cross is very prevalent in providing coverage to State as

well as Federal government employees and they are also very

important in the administration of Social Security. There is a

problem with health insurance in the United States.

There is a conflict between the need for the insurance company

to make money versus the need of their clients to remain

healthy. This need to make money has become so uncontrolled that

one third of the population in the US can not afford medical

insurance and medical bills today are the major cause for

bankruptcies. This is why state and federal regulation of health

insurance companies is necessary. On the other hand medical

insurance companies could hypothetically face unforeseen events

such as the chicken flu where a large percentage of their

clients all of a sudden face horrendous hospital bills.

Theoretically this could bankrupt the insurance company within a

very short timeframe. So to prevent this situation medical

insurance companies use a variety of checks and balances to

limit payments to beneficiaries.

And of course it is a well-known fact that those seeking health

insurance are also those most likely to have medical problems

being present or future ones. It is also known that if the cost

of healthcare to the beneficiary is very low than the use of

medical benefits will be much greater than if the cost is

substantial.

So to find the balance where medical services are available when

needed but not abused to the extend that for every paper cut you

will make a visit to the doctor proper safeguards should be in

place.

So in theory, if people would exercise, would eat healthy food,

would avoid addictive substances, this would lower health

insurance prices because the insurance companies would pay fewer

doctor bills.

However, you could then also say that too much of the insurance

premiums would be paid out in executive salaries or kept as

profits by the company.

About the author:

Frank

Vanderlugt is interested in Blue Cross

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