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Iowa History
The Blue Cross Blue Shield Organization
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The early days of Blue Cross and Blue
Shield Plans marked the birth of prepaid health care coverage in
America. Originally, Blue Cross Plans were formed to cover the cost
of hospital care while Blue Shield Plans were established to cover
physicians' services. Today, both brands represent the full spectrum
of health care coverage. Here's how it all began:
Blue Cross Roots
1929 Justin Ford Kimball, an official at
Baylor University in Dallas, introduces a plan to guarantee
schoolteachers 21 days of hospital care for $6 a year. Other
groups of employees in Dallas soon join the plan, and the idea
quickly attracts nationwide attention. Thus the Blue Cross concept
is born.
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1939 the Blue Cross symbol is officially adopted as national
emblem for such plans.
Blue Shield Roots
1900 The Blue Shield concept emerges from
the lumber and mining camps of the Pacific Northwest at the turn
of the century. Employers want to provide medical care for their
workers, so they pay monthly fees to "medical service
bureaus" composed of groups of physicians.
1939 These pioneer programs lead to the
first Blue Shield Plan, which is established in California in
1939.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association Roots
1982 The Blue Cross and Blue Shield
Association is formed as the result of a merger of the Blue Cross
Association and National Association of Blue Shield Plans.
Today the Blue Cross and Blue Shield System consists
of 38 member plans that are independent, locally operated companies under
the coordination of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield
Association.
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Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa
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1939 Hospital Service
Incorporated of Iowa, later known as Blue Cross of Iowa, begins
business in Des Moines. That same year, Associated Hospital Services
Incorporated, later known as Blue Cross of Western Iowa and South
Dakota, begins in Sioux City, Iowa.
1945 Iowa Medical Service, later known as
Blue Shield of Iowa, is formed.
1960s Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa
become the dominant providers of health care coverage in the state.
1966 Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa
begin serving as fiscal agents for Medicaid, the state-federal
program for the poor, a role they will serve until 1980. |
 
Construction on the Ruan Center starts in 1973 and is
complete by mid-1975. The Ruan Center is the first home shared by
all Blue Cross and Blue Shield employees in Des Moines. |
1974 Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa launch Delta Dental
Plan of Iowa; a relationship that will end in 1998 when Delta
establishes its own operational capacity.
Mid-1970s Blue Cross and Blue Shield of
Iowa set up Rural Health Services, Iowa's first health maintenance
organization (HMO).
1984 Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa
form Total Health Network of Iowa (THN), the Plans'
physician-manager HMO.
1986 Alliance Select, the Plans' highly
successful PPO, becomes operational and grows rapidly. |
1986 The Plans respond to marketplace trends and purchase
Benefit Administrators of America, Inc. (BAAI), a third-party
administrator (TPA). BAAI is the Plans' first for-profit venture. It
is renamed Wellmark Administrators, Inc. in 1997.
1989 Blue Cross of Iowa, Blue Shield of
Iowa and Blue Cross of Western Iowa and South Dakota merge to form
IASD Health Services Corporation.
1991 IASD Health Services Corporation
becomes a mutual insurance company owned by its policyholders.
1996 Blue Shield of South Dakota merges into IASD to form a
single company.
1997 The enterprise adopts the Wellmark
brand, using the trade names Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of
Iowa and Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Dakota.
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Today
Wellmark's Strategic Priorities, under CEO John Forsyth and its board of directors, focus our company’s energies and resources on distinctive capabilities that provide unique value to our customers and stakeholders. It is our goal to achieve the full potential of our core business. Achievement of these priorities will position us to continue to provide unique value and to continue to grow in Iowa and South Dakota.
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