Independence Blue Cross (Independence) is a health insurer based in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, in the

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. Independence is the largest

health insurer Health insurance or medical insurance (also known as medical aid in South Africa) is a type of insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses. As with other types of insurance, risk is shared among m ...

in the Philadelphia area, serving people in the region and seven million nationwide. Employing more than 10,000 people,About Independence Blue Cross the company offers a wide variety of health plans, including

managed care The term managed care or managed healthcare is used in the United States to describe a group of activities intended to reduce the cost of providing health care and providing American health insurance while improving the quality of that care ("man ...

, and traditional indemnity insurance. Its network of health care providers includes nearly 160 area hospitals and more than 42,000 physicians and other health care professionals. Independence is an independent licensee of the

Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBS, BCBSA) is a federation, or supraorganization, of, in 2022, 34 independent and locally operated BCBSA companies that provide health insurance in the United States to more than 106 million people. It was ...

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 Independence Hall is a historic civic building in Philadelphia, where both the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were debated and adopted by America's Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Fa ...

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 1964, the company changed its name to Blue Cross of Greater Philadelphia and in 1988, began doing business as Independence Blue Cross. In October 2011, Independence launched a private, charitable foundation — th
Independence Blue Cross Foundation

Subsidiaries and affiliates

In addition to health care benefits, Independence Blue Cross offers specialized services and managed care through its affiliates and subsidiaries. * QCC Insurance Company * Keystone Health Plan East * Independence Administrators * AmeriHealth * AmeriHealth Administrators * AmeriHealth Casualty * AmeriHealth Caritas * CompServices, Inc. * NaviNet, Inc.

External links

*
Health Insurance Plans

References

{{Authority control Financial services companies established in 1938 Healthcare in Philadelphia Companies based in Philadelphia Health care companies based in Pennsylvania Health maintenance organizations Medical and health organizations based in Pennsylvania Organizations established in 1938 Members of Blue Cross Blue Shield Association