Independence Blue Cross

Company Overview
Independence Blue Cross (IBX) has been serving its customer for over seven decades but even after all that time, quality is still the name of the game. Through its innovative products and forward-thinking programs, IBX continues to work tirelessly every day to increase the value of their customer’s money and keep to their promise of treating people well while holding down costs.

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History
The Blue Cross brand originated in 1929 at Baylor University with a plan offering teachers three weeks of hospital care for $6 per year. As the company grew, it began offering coverage to other employee groups in Dallas and later expanded to national coverage. The Blue Shield brand was developed at the start of last century with lumber and mining employers in the Pacific Northwest paying a monthly fee to a designated group of physicians.Blue Shield and the Blue Cross Association merged in 1982 to become the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

Independence Blue Cross was originally formed as the Associated Hospital Service of Philadelphia in 1938. The company originally enrolled Philadelphia Mayor S. Davis Wilson as its first member and Independence Hall became its first employer group. By year’s end, the company had more than 160,000 members and by 1958, they employed 600, contracted with 94 hospitals, and handled thousands of customer requests each day. The company officially became Independence Blue Cross in 1988.
Current Organization
Today Independence Blue Cross is one of the leading health insurance companies in southeastern Pennsylvania. It covers more than 2.4 million and nationwide it extends coverage to nearly 3.3 million. They employ over 5500 and annually, they process nearly 26 million claims while responding to more than 4 million customer requests each and every day.