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Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina also known as Blue Cross NC has been in business since 1933.
George Watts Hill, a prominent businessman, and Dr. W.C. Davison, dean of Duke University School of Medicine, founded the Hospital Care Association in Durham in 1933.
In 2015, Anthem acquired Simply Healthcare Holdings, a Medicaid and Medicare managed care company based in Florida and in 2020 Anthem acquired Beacon Health Options and independently held behavioral health organization.
The new organization, one of the parent organizations of today’s BCBSNC, offered prepaid hospital care to families for as little as 2 cents a day. The nation’s first “Blue Cross baby,” Ann Woodard, was born in December 1933 at Durham’s Watts Hospital to parents enrolled in the new Hospital Care Association.
In 1934, Graham David of the Duke Endowment and Dr. I.H. Manning, former dean of UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Medicine founded the Hospital Saving Association in Chapel Hill which was a rival hospital prepayment plan and eventually became a parent organization to BCBSNC as well.
In 1938, both the Hospital Saving Association and the Hospital Care Association were approved to use the Blue Cross symbol and in 1947 the Hospital Saving Association receives approval to act as an official Blue Shield Plan and was among the first 17 Plans authorized to use the Blue Shield emblem.
In 1968, after 35 years of competition, the two associations consolidated to become North Carolina Blue Cross and Blue Shield (NCBCBS)
In 2014, Blue Cross NC was the only insurer to offer ACA-compliant plans to all North Carolinians and in 2016, Blue Cross NC relocated its headquarters to Durham.