In the early 1930s, health care in the United States was in crisis. The Great Depression had taken hold and many Americans were unable to afford the care they desperately needed. Insurance policies for health care coverage were practically non-existent. As a result, many hospitals across the country were thrown into financial ruin and were forced to close.

Against the backdrop of this health care crisis, Minnesota became the birthplace for an organization with a radical idea for the time— offering access to local hospitals and payment for medical bills in exchange for a monthly fee.

The organization, Hospital Services Association, began in 1933 with a small network of just seven St. Paul hospitals. Over the next eight decades, this new type of insurance company would grow to include every hospital in the state under its new name— Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota.

A commitment to affordable access to care

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota was built on a commitment to making sure that people had affordable access to the care they need. But today, we’re concerned about the direction health care is headed in our state and across the country.

The cost of care that insurance premiums go toward is rising at an unsustainable rate, causing the complex health care ecosystem we are all part of to be thrown out of balance.

And Blue Cross is once again leading the way toward a sustainable solution.

Advocating for our members' health care dollars

Now more than ever, we at Blue Cross have a responsibility to advocate for our members’ health and the spending of their health care dollars. In part, this means providing transparency into the price of health care, what causes costs to rise, and what’s being done to make sure premiums are going toward high-quality care that’s proven to be safe, effective and appropriate in all cases.

Learn more

To learn more about how Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is working to protect the sustainability of health care costs today, please visit www.bluecrossmn.com/sustainability.