The Millennium Magazine is pleased to announce Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina has become a new advertising sponsor for the publication. Ed Sellers, pictured above, now serves as CEO and chairman of the board of directors.

More Than 50 Years Ago

It all started with a priest, a businessman and a journalist. South Carolina Monsignor George Lewis Smith, Roger Huntington of the Greenville Hospital Benefit Association, and Columbia journalist George Buchanan shared a vision. They wanted to create a non-profit prepaid hospital plan for the Palmetto State.

With the support of the community, the men began lobbying the General Assembly for legislation to begin the company. Their vision became a reality in 1946 when the General Assembly passed legislation to create the South Carolina Hospital Service Plan. That's the original name for what is now Blue Cross — Blue Shield would come along later!

1946 ... a loaf of bread cost a dime. You could fly from Columbia to Atlanta for just $9.50! And our first board of directors met in April, electing Roger Huntington as the company's first president.

The next few months were busy ones for the new company. Before the State Insurance Commission would issue us a charter, we had to show we had at least $5,000 in assets. Funds from across the state started to come in, and on December 11, 1946, the South Carolina Hospital Service Plan received its charter. The following spring, the company merged with the Hospital Benefit Association of Greenville, which gave us an early financial base. By the end of that year, we were insuring almost 30,000 people.

Our first office was on Main Street in Greenville. In the summer of 1946, we landed a major client — Uncle Sam! We earned what would be the first of many federal government contracts, handling civilian healthcare payments for Veterans Administration beneficiaries. By 1948, we had a net income of $27,000 and six field representatives. We were on our way!

In the meantime, Blue Shield was getting off the ground. In 1949, Blue Shield got its charter as a non-profit group that covered doctors' services. With the backing of the South Carolina Medical Association, Blue Shield began signing up doctors to participate in the plan. A year later, Blue Shield received its license from the state insurance department. It then hired Blue Cross to administer, sell and promote its contracts. This was the beginning of an exciting partnership.

Our first president, Roger Huntington, retired in 1950. George Buchanan took the reins and gave 32 years of service to the effort. He viewed his participation as a public service and took no salary for his hard work.

Coming to Columbia

In 1957, Blue Cross moved from Greenville to Columbia's Five Points area. The move wasn't a fancy one — we had temporary office space in an old grocery store! But business was about to boom.

In 1961, Blue Cross received a whole new line of business from Uncle Sam — the Federal Employee Program contract. We still hold this contract today, and have earned our place in history as consistently ranking number one in service among all Blues plans. Hard to imagine, but we bought our very first computer in 1962. It filled a room of almost 300 square feet!

We moved into our current headquarters in 1966 — I-20 East at Alpine Road. Our move was just in time to land two huge federal contracts as the Medicare program launched into history.

Medicare is a federal insurance program for seniors and people with disabilities. When the Medicare program started, South Carolina hospitals moved quickly to get involved. The hospitals nominated Blue Cross to handle the contract for Medicare Part A, which handles hospital services. The federal government then chose Blue Shield to handle the contract for Medicare Part B, which handles doctors services. Teaming up with Medicare in the early days would prove a great success — we're still partners today!

In 1969, the state legislature repealed the legislation that created Blue Cross and Blue Shield. This made the businesses mutual insurance companies. For the first time, the companies could offer major medical benefits and would get the same treatment as all other mutual insurers.

Launching New Lines of Business

The 1970s were an exciting decade for us. We introduced new benefits to hold down costs. We began preventive care programs to help customers improve their health. We even launched our first subsidiary, Companion Life, in 1971. For the first time, Blue Cross was offering something more than pure health coverage.

There was also a changing of the guard. Joe Sullivan became president of the company in 1971. An aggressive businessman, he had a strong vision for the company's future.

One of the most important events in our history occurred in 1971. That's when Blue Cross and Blue Shield merged into one company. We also completed building our tower office, now a landmark for locals and visitors to Columbia.

We entered the 1980s with enthusiasm, introducing new products and services and landing new federal contracts. In 1981, we became a regional carrier for the federal Civilian Health and Medical Programs for the Uniformed Services, or CHAMPUS (now TRICARE). Since winning this contract, we have serviced more than 18 contracts for regions all over the country.

During this time, we added doctors and hospitals to our preferred provider organization (PPO). We also created our first health maintenance organization (HMO), BlueChoice HealthPlan (originally called Companion HealthCare). Now one of the most successful HMOs in South Carolina, BlueChoice HealthPlan is accredited by the National Committee for Quality Assurance. This is an honor few HMOs can claim!

The 1980s also saw the creation of Companion Property & Casualty. This company offers workers compensation, homeowners and automobile insurance. Then came Companion Technologies, which sold computer software and hardware for claims administration and office automation. We sold Companion Technologies at the end of 2006. In 1987, Blue Cross got a new president, Ed Sellers, who came to us from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

As we continued to improve our expertise and efficiency in processing claims, we earned more and more federal contracts. In 1990, our CHAMPUS division won a new contract and hired 500 employees to handle the additional workload. We moved all our CHAMPUS operations to Florence. In 1992, the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) made us its Durable Medical Equipment Regional Carrier (DMERC) for much of the South. This added more hundreds of jobs to the Columbia area.

After 21 years of service, Joe Sullivan retired as chief executive officer in 1992. His service left a permanent mark on the company and the community. His leadership led the company to financial stability, strength and an excellent reputation in the health benefits industry. Ed Sellers then became our chief executive officer, with Mr. Sullivan serving as chairman of our board.

Throughout the early 1990s, we continued to grow as our customers asked for new products, new services. Larger companies wanted to pay for insurance benefits themselves, but didn't have the know-how to process the claims. Customers wanted new ways to save money on healthcare bills, asking for more preventive care to detect diseases early. Doctors and hospitals wanted new technology so they could communicate with satellite offices better. We met these challenges by introducing new subsidiaries:

*Planned Administrators Incorporated, which processes third-party claims.

*CIMR, which helps physician and hospital systems communicate more effectively and powerfully.

As we continued to earn more and more contracts from Uncle Sam, we created a special division within our company to handle them. Under the name Palmetto Government Benefits Administrators, we serve the federal government by administering contracts for Medicare, TRICARE (formerly CHAMPUS) and Medicaid. This makes up a big part of our business. We actually process more TRICARE claims than any other company in the nation! We rank as one of the top contractors in the nation, and we are proud to serve so many Americans with quality service and support.

Now, More Than 50 Years Later ...

Today, we serve nearly a million South Carolinians. Largely due to the growth of our government programs, we have more than 12,000 employees. We have offices throughout South Carolina, as well as in Virginia and Texas. We have earned honors as a top employer for the state.

Ed Sellers now serves as CEO and chairman of the board of directors. Mr. Sullivan currently serves as chairman of the board's executive committee. We consistently rank as one of the top Blue Cross plans in the nation. We continue to research new products and increase our efforts to offer South Carolinians secure, cost-efficient healthcare coverage. After more than 50 years of service, we are still dedicated to serving our community. And we're looking forward to the challenges ahead.