The Canassurance Hospital Service Association, also called Blue Cross Canassurance, is a not-for-profit health insurance provider in Canada.[2] It is a member of the Canadian Association of Blue Cross Plans, operating in Ontario under the brand Ontario Blue Cross and in Quebec as Québec Blue Cross (French: Croix Bleue du Québec).[3][4]
Blue Cross Canassurance | |
Company type | Nonprofit corporation |
Industry | Health insurance |
Founded | 1942 |
Headquarters | |
Products | Health and dental insurance Travel Insurance Life and Disability Insurance |
Brands | Ontario Blue Cross Québec Blue Cross |
Number of employees |
|
Website | qc on |
It also provides travel assistance through its subsidiary CanAssistance Inc.[5]
History
editThe Canassurance Hospital Service Association was founded in 1942 under the name Quebec Hospital Service Association by a group of hospital directors and business people. The goal of the association was to provide workers with access to health services at a reasonable cost through an advanced reimbursement plan. Later, with the implementation of a public health system (1957) and the Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec (1969), Blue Cross changed its plans to complement the healthcare public system.[6]
By 1970, the Quebec Hospital Service Association had more than 1 million members throughout the province. At that time, private insurance plans were used as an argument by the Quebec administration to counterweight the Canadian government's pressure for a unique national healthcare program. For the Premier of Quebec, Maurice Duplessis, healthcare represented a provincial area of expertise. The following administrations have maintained the position that national standards would not necessarily meet local needs.[7]
The Quebec Hospital Service Association changed its name in 1999 to Canassurance Hospital Service Association[8] (Blue Cross Canassurance) and provides services in Ontario and Quebec.[9]
Community initiatives
editBeing a not-for-profit health insurance provider, Blue Cross Canassurance reinvests in research and development as well as into the community by supporting a variety of causes linked to health and wellness.[10]
Subsidiaries
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d Fiche Entreprise. "Croix Bleue Canassurance", Les Affaires. Retrieved on July 18 2019.
- ^ Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA). "Canadian Life and Health Insurance Facts, 2014 edition", page 24. Retrieved on 25 June 2019.
- ^ Financial Services Commission of Ontario. "Companies registered under the Prepaid Hospital and Medical Services Act as of April 1, 2019", Ontario, 1 April 2019. Retrieved on 21 June 2019.
- ^ Autorité des marchés financiers. "Register - Insurers, Deposit institutions and Trust companies", Quebec, 24 June 2019. Retrieved on 26 June 2019.
- ^ CanAssistance. "About", 2018. Retrieved on 21 June 2019.
- ^ François Guérard and Yvan Rousseau "Le marché de la maladie - Soins hospitaliers et assurances au Québec, 1939-1961", Revue d'histoire de l'Amérique française, volume 59, # 3, Winter 2006. Retrieved on 25 June 2019.
- ^ Canadian Museum of History. "Quebec: Pas une province comme les autres?", The History of Health Care in Canada 1914-2007, 11 June 2011. Retrieved on 21 June 2019.
- ^ "Bill 207 (Private) An Act to amend the Act to incorporate the Quebec Hospital Service Association" (PDF). Québec Official Publisher. June 14, 2002. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2003-03-13. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
- ^ Quebec Blue Cross. "Our history". Retrieved on 21 June 2019.
- ^ Blue Cross Canassurance. "2018 Annual Report", pages 18-21, 2018. Retrieved on 21 June 2019.