Independence Blue Cross - Company History

Company History

Independence Blue Cross began in 1938 as the Associated Hospital Service of Philadelphia and offered the first prepaid hospitalization plan in the region. Philadelphia Mayor S. Davis Wilson enrolled as the first member, and Independence Hall became the first employer group to purchase coverage.

By the end of its first year, the company had more than 160,000 members. By 1958, it employed 600 people and contracted with 94 hospitals. In 1988, the company began doing business as Independence Blue Cross.

Read more about this topic:  Independence Blue Cross

Famous quotes containing the words company and/or history:

    It’s given new meaning to me of the scientific term black hole.
    Don Logan, U.S. businessman, president and chief executive of Time Inc. His response when asked how much his company had spent in the last year to develop Pathfinder, Time Inc.’S site on the World Wide Web. Quoted in New York Times, p. D7 (November 13, 1995)

    One classic American landscape haunts all of American literature. It is a picture of Eden, perceived at the instant of history when corruption has just begun to set in. The serpent has shown his scaly head in the undergrowth. The apple gleams on the tree. The old drama of the Fall is ready to start all over again.
    Jonathan Raban (b. 1942)