Ramsey County History – Spring 1985: “Health Care Crisis of the 1920s—A ‘National Epidemic’ Launches Blue Cross and Blue Shield”

Health Care Crisis of the 1920s—A ‘National Epidemic’ Launches Blue Cross and Blue Shield
Author: Gary Phelps

The article focuses on Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. In 1932, the Hospital Service Association of St. Paul was organized to operate a nonprofit prepaid hospitalization plan. In 1935, the association and a group of Minneapolis hospitals merged their plans into the Minnesota Hospital Service Association, with headquarters in the Midway area of St. Paul. Blue Cross became a national model. In 1940, the number of participating hospitals reached seventy-five, the number of subscribers, over 380,000. Growth continued through World War II. Blue Shield, a plan for the prepayment of medical expenses, was started in 1945. The two organizations were separate but cooperated. They survived various stresses, and both reached about a million subscribers by 1960. The two parted ways, but, in 1972 ,the two organizations completed a merger.

PDF of Phelps article