Blue Beginnings
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| America's first "Blue Cross Baby" was born in Durham, North Carolina. Her birth was the first in America to be covered by a health insurance family certificate that included maternity benefits. The entire cost of her delivery and her mother's 10-day hospital stay totaled $60. Actually, it is the mother in this picture who was the first "Blue Cross Baby." She is holding her own "Blue Cross Baby" born in 1954. |
Born out of necessity in the Great Depression, the Blue Cross concept was created in 1929 by a pioneering businessman, Justin Ford Kimball. He offered a way for 1,300 school teachers in Dallas to finance 21 days of hospital care by making small monthly payments to the Baylor University Hospital.
Around the same time, the Blue Shield concept was growing out of the lumber and mining camps of the Pacific Northwest . Serious injuries and chronic illness were common among workers in these hazardous jobs. Employers who wanted to provide medical care for their workers made arrangements with physicians who were paid a monthly fee for their services.
These pioneer programs provided the basis for what would become the “modern” Blue Shield Plans.
