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Blue Cross® and Blue Shield®

Among the most recognized and accepted symbols in health care.

The independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield Associations are among the country’s oldest and largest providers of prepaid health insurance coverage, with 39 member plans that collectively provide coverage to about 88 million people. Blue Cross and Blue Shield member plans understand the importance of security, strength, and stability in people’s lives.

Independence Blue Cross is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and benefits from the national strength of its member plans.

The Medicare partnership

The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association has been part of the Medicare program since its inception in 1965. Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plan Medicare contractors are the largest processors of Medicare claims. In 2005, they processed nearly 90 percent of 179 million Medicare claims from hospitals and other provider institutions (Part A) and 72 percent of more than 981 million claims from physicians and other health care practitioners (Part B).¹

Provider networks

Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies pioneered the concept of close relationships between physicians. Instead of simply administering and paying for health benefits, Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies formed partnerships with providers to create coordinated, accountable health plans.

Health care anywhere

When traveling, your ID card gives you access to Blue Cross Blue Shield networks of health care providers across the country and around the world.

For more information, visit the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association website.

¹ Medicare Contractor Program. Retrieved February 16, 2007, from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association website.

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