Birth of the Brands

Over the years, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield healthcare insurance concepts took hold and developed into familiar brands across America. When the Blue Cross and Blue Shield organizations merged, their brand symbols merged to become one of the most recognized brands in the country.

In 1934, E.A. van Steenwyk, executive secretary with the forerunner to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, identified his hospital care program with a solid blue Greek cross design. The symbol began to show up in other parts of the country and soon, as one historian has written, the Blue Cross "perpetuated itself as a unifying force" among the newly emerging Plans.

The Blue Shield symbol was devised in Buffalo , New York . Carl Metzger, an early pioneer in the Blue movement, wanted a design that would distinguish the new medical service plan. He also wanted to make sure that there was an obvious link to the companion hospital plan. It soon flourished among the growing number of Blue Shield Plans.

Poster by Viennese artist, Joseph Binder.

E.A. van Steenwyk, head of the newly formed Hospital Service Association, later to be known as Blue Cross of Minnesota, commissioned a Viennese artist, Joseph Binder, to paint a poster with the Blue Cross symbol on it. It was the first time the Blue Cross symbol was used. Soon, the Blue Cross began to show up in other parts of the country and became the unifying symbol among the newly emerging Plans.