83 Years of Caring for Michigan

Karly Hurley

| 3 min read

The Mackinac Bridge stands tall over the deep blue waters of the lake on a sunny day.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan has been a trusted partner to Michiganders for 83 years; we’ve been committed to communities through both good times and difficult ones as well. Our business represents all of Michigan, providing access to quality health care for all as we work to improve health care for all. Nearly 10 years after becoming a nonprofit mutual health insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is growing and diversifying our $32 billion enterprise to support our mission to deliver affordable health care to our customers and members. Enterprise diversification helped Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, putting more than $2.1 billion behind our response without factoring those costs into the health insurance premiums our fully-insured customers paid in either 2021 or 2022.
We are advancing transformation in health care – aligning payment with successful patient outcomes – through the partnerships with physicians and health systems we have built into our Blueprint for Affordability programs. Our focus on Inclusion and Diversity has been sustained at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan for more than 15 years. Our enterprise represents the diversity of the people and communities we serve. People of color represent 43 percent of our workforce and 34 percent of our leadership. Women represent 68 percent of our workforce and 55 percent of our leadership. We have purposefully built a culture to support inclusion and diversity and to reflect the communities we serve. We serve all of Michigan and are as committed as ever to our historic social mission – and advancing equity, inclusion and diversity in our state for the next 83 years and more. With a “Commitment to Equality and Equity,” we continue to steadfastly address disparities and social determinants of health and promote positive changes for the physical and behavioral health of our members and communities. To address more long-term solutions, our Office of Health and Health Care Disparities works to evaluate, develop and implement programs, practices and policies that will have a systemic impact. Since 2009, we’ve helped more than 450,000 children through our Building Healthy Communities program. This school year, 212 schools statewide were awarded the Building Healthy Communities Program – which includes a new prevention resource aimed at addressing the growing issue of adolescent self-harm and suicide. In 2021, we provided $904,500 in grants to 49 safety net clinics, making us Michigan’s largest private donor to clinics that provide free or low-cost medical and dental treatment for uninsured and vulnerable Michigan residents. Together with Dedicated Senior Medical Centers, a subsidiary of ChenMed, Blue Cross opened six new primary care centers across Metro Detroit to provide health care to seniors. And in a partnership with Meijer Pharmacy, Blue Cross helped homebound individuals and people with disabilities gain access to COVID-19 vaccines. Our commitment to Michigan’s safety net is longstanding – since 2005, we’ve awarded more than $17 million in grants, which have enabled volunteer doctors and nurses at these clinics to care for thousands of people every year. This ongoing work – grounded in community and involving partners in care – is having a meaningful, tangible impact on the health care services people across Michigan receive today. It also is helping lead Michigan to a healthier future. We at Blue Cross are invested in these efforts and the goal behind them — as we have been for nearly 83 years in Michigan.
MI Blues Perspectives is sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, a nonprofit, independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association