CareFirst Health Insurance

CareFirst Inc. constitutes two companies - CareFirst of Maryland, Inc. and Group Hospitalization and Medical Services, Inc. It’s a not-for-profit, non-stock, parent company of these two affiliates. Being the largest health care insurer in the Mid-Atlantic region, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield serves close to 3.1 million members, with its stated mission “to provide health benefit services of value to customers across the region comprised of Maryland and the National Capital Area”, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield has a diverse portfolio of insurance products to offer to its customers, like medical, dental and vision care options, prescription drug plans, and ongoing wellness options.

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield Story

The company originated way back in 1934 with the formation of Group Hospitalization, Inc. by a hospital association inWashington. In just 8 years’ time, Group Hospitalization, Inc., was sanctioned to use the Blue Cross service mark, and in 1950, the Maryland Medical Service, Inc. was incorporated and licensed to use the Blue Shield name. Within no time, the company’s business expanded manifold, and Maryland Hospital Service, Inc. (Blue Cross) and Maryland Medical Service (Blue Shield) changed their names to Maryland Blue Cross and Maryland Blue Shield, respectively. Finally, with the entry of CareFirst in the affiliation in 2000, the new entity came into being.

Modern CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield Health Insurance

The modern CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield is the largest health care insurer in the Mid-Atlantic region with nearly 3.1 million members. With over 5,400 employees in the District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, Northern Virginia and West Virginia, more than 80 percent of all of Maryland, Washington D.C., and Northern Virginia region’s health care providers participate in one or more of the provider networks CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield. The company has a vast network of 165 hospitals in Maryland, D.C., and Northern Virginia. The company also has the largest Federal Employees Health Program (FEP) enrollment in the country with about 515,000 members.

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield and Social Welfare

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield has CareFirst Commitment initiative in place in order to make the communities better and healthier places to live. This initiative has 3 goals: (a) Ensuring Affordability to keep health care costs down for the members and to increase access to insurance for individuals throughout the service area of CareFirst; (b) Raising the bar to improve care quality and patient safety for the benefit of members and non-members alike; and (c) Closing the gaps to address racial and ethnic health care disparities and better meet the needs of the increasingly diverse communities the company serves. 

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield Accolades

The American Marketing Association awarded the 2006 Marketing Excellence Award to CareFirst Commitment for effectively communicating its community and charitable outreach programs. The company has also received seven consecutive national Brand Excellence awards, recognizing its customer service, financial strength, membership growth and promotion of the Blue name. Another accolade for the company came along when it received an “Excellent” rating from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) for its BlueChoice HMO and full NCQA accreditation for its BluePreferred PPO