A theoretical nonprofit corporation that enjoys tax exempt status for the purpose of underwriting surgical and medical insurance coverage.
The nonprofit medical (physician) care prepayment plan which was developed by and sponsored by physicians, and which originally was restricted to furnishing physician care. Many BS plans have linked with their counterpart Blue Cross (BC) plans, which are hospital sponsored, and which deal with hospital care. Some 77 plans of each type, BC and BS, are in existence across the United States, and state statutes typically govern their operation. While plans are similar in principle, each one is autonomous; there are differences in policies, benefit structure, and administration among them from plan to plan. When the local BS and BC plans are linked, they are typically called jointly Blue Cross/Blue Shield (BC/BS).
A nonprofit membership organization that provides insurance coverage for the costs of surgery and related medical care for members. Blue Shield plans evolved after World War II from a program called Associated Medical Care Plans, sponsored by the American Medical Association. Blue Shield functions in a manner similar to that of Blue Cross under contractual agreements between members of the plan and the providers of medical care, in this case participating physicians. Blue Cross and Blue Shield are legally independent of each other but coverage by both types of plans generally is offered to the same groups of members.
A nonprofit medical care insurer in the U.S. The insurance is for that part of medical care provided by health care professionals.