Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) is a customer-owned health benefits company focused on health and wellness. HCSC operates through its Blue Cross and Blue Shield divisions in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, and several subsidiaries to offer a variety of health and life insurance products and related services to employers and individuals.

Our products include PPO, HMO, POS, traditional indemnity and Medicare Supplemental health plans. We also offer, through some employer-sponsored health plans, vision; dental; managed mental health; and prescription drug coverage. In addition, through our subsidiaries we offer life insurance products and an array of fixed annuities.

Health Care Service Corporation traces its roots to the development of the world’s first hospital care prepayment plan in 1929 by Justin Ford Kimball, a vice president at the Baylor University School of Medicine in Texas.

Using Kimball’s plan as a model, a group of Chicago civic leaders, hospital officials and physicians met in the midst of the Great Depression to find a solution to the critical problem of affordable health care. In 1936, they pooled their own resources and launched what was initially called the Chicago Plan for Hospital Care. The company’s first health insurance policy became effective on January 21, 1937.

The concept of prepayment for hospital care caught on quickly in Chicago. The company, which was incorporated as Hospital Service Corporation, grew rapidly, enrolling 36,000 members in just the first six months of operations. The company adopted the Blue Cross symbol in 1939 and the Blue Shield symbol in 1947.

The Blue Cross Plan for hospital services and the Blue Shield Plan for physician services operated separately until 1975 when they were merged as Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC). By 1982, all the smaller Blue Cross Plans in Illinois were also merged with the Chicago-based Plan and the company operated as Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois. The company’s tremendous growth continues as other Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans join HCSC; Texas in 1998; New Mexico in 2001; and Oklahoma in 2005.

HCSC, as an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, currently provides Blue Cross and Blue Shield coverage to more than 11.7 million members. In addition, through its divisions and subsidiaries, HCSC offers a variety of group and individual benefits plans, related services and life insurance products.

The mission of Corporate Diversity is to foster a diverse work environment where all employees are valued, enabled to positively contribute to Health Care Service Corporation’s business objectives and are recognized and rewarded accordingly.

Through the commitment and leadership of HCSC’s Board of Directors and our senior management, we strive to weave diversity into the way we manage and interact as employees, and serve and interact with our customers, providers and the community by

• creating a more open and inclusive culture; and
  
• aligning diversity initiatives with other business strategies.

Health Care Service Corporation

300 East Randolph Street
Chicago, Illinois 60601-5099

(312) 653-6000

“When each of us brings our unique perspective to bear on shared business goals and when each of us values the perspectives of others, our diversity becomes a powerful tool for effectively matching our company’s services and products to the needs and diversity of our customers, members and communities.”

Diversity at HCSC refers to human differences and similarities among employees, customers and key constituents that affect:

• overall success of individual employees and the company;
  
• work and business environments;
  
• customer satisfaction; and
  
• community and general public perception of our products and services.