1960's

1960

Associated Medical Care Plans is renamed Association of Blue Shield Plans.

1965

The Medicare and Medicaid programs are created. Launching a massive program like Medicare would have been prohibitive without the established Blue Cross and Blue Shield infrastructure. In the five years following Medicare's inception, Blue Cross processed 63.4 million claims totaling approximately $19.2 billion. In 2001, the Blue System continued to process the overwhelming majority of Medicare claims totaling $163 billion.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Medicare bill into law in 1965.

Timeline

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