Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS) is a health insurance association that has been around in one form or another for more than 80 years. Nearly 100 million Americans are covered by health insurance plan providers who are affiliated with Blue Cross and Blue Shield. These providers are licensed by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association to provide health insurance coverage plans to consumers. Many of these providers offer individual, family and group health insurance plans.http://www.bcbsok.com/coverage/individual/index.html http://www.bcbsok.com/coverage/group/index.html

Blue Cross and Blue Shield providers are located in all 50 U.S. states.http://www.bcbs.com/about/history/ If you are looking for a local Blue Cross Blue Shield provider in your area, you can use the company's "Blue Finder" to find the nearest BCBS company. Specific information about health care plans is provided on local BCBS company websites. Blue Finder also helps current Blue Cross customers find health care providers (including doctors and hospitals) in their coverage area.http://www.bcbs.com/bluefinder/

While today Blue Cross and Blue Shield are one and the same, this wasn't always the case. Blue Cross plans were first offered in 1929 to help cover hospital services. Blue Shield was born in the 1930s and designed to help cover doctor's services.http://www.irs.gov/businesses/article/0,,id=183646,00.html Blue Cross and Blue Shield merged in 1982 to become the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.http://www.bcbs.com/about/history/1980s.html

Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies offer a variety of different kinds of health care benefits to customers in the U.S. These include Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs), Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO), Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO).http://www.bcbs.com/coverage/types/