of california type non profit health plan stripped of tax exempt status in 2014 1 2 industry healthcare founded 1938 created 3 1939 incorporated 3 founder california medical association 3 headquarters blue shield of california building san francisco california key people paul markovich president and chief executive revenue 13.4 billion usd 2014 4 net income 162 million usd 2014 4 members 3.5 million 4 number of employees 6 800 website blueshieldca.com blue shield of california is a health plan provider founded in 1939 3 and based in san francisco california . the organization serves over 4 million health plan members and nearly 65 000 physicians across the state . 5 blue shield of california was founded by the california medical association . founded as a not for profit blue shield of california was stripped of its tax exempt status by the california franchise tax board in 2014 . contents 1 history 2 controversy 3 status changing 4 quality of care 5 references 6 external links history edit blue shield of california then known as california physicians service was created by the california medical association on december 18 1938 6 and was incorporated on february 2 1939 . the organization began offering coverage on march 6 of that same year . in 1946 the organization was among a founder of the national association of blue shield plans which later became the blue cross and blue shield association . today blue shield of california is an independent licensee of the national association . the blue shield of california health plan was the first in the nation to offer catastrophic coverage in 1950 provide coverage for a heart transplant in 1984 offer online benefit and enrollment information in 1996 and offer an online enrollment system for agents in 1998 . in 2006 the national committee for quality assurance commonly referred to as ncqa recently recognized blue shield as an excellent health plan for service and clinical quality . 7 in 2010 blue shield of california dignity health and hill physicians medical group formed an accountable care organization that covers 41 000 individuals in the california public employees retirement system calpers . during its first 2 years this program reduced inpatient use and health care costs significantly . 8 in 2014 blue shield of california lost its exemption from california state corporate income tax but did not officially announce this information to the public until march 2015 . 2 a claimed recent application of the duck test was the denial of tax exempt nonprofit status to blue shield of california . 9 in 2015 blue shield entered the medicaid market by acquiring care1st health plan . 10 controversy edit in 2006 blue shield agreed to a 6.5 million settlement relating to its alleged modifying of the risk tier structure of its individual and family health care plans . in 2008 the organization agreed to a settlement with the california department of managed health care to resolve allegations of improper rescission of individual health plan coverage . blue shield agreed to pay 3 million as a penalty . the organization reinstated coverage to 450 members whose plans had been cancelled and agreed to provide compensation for any medical debts incurred by these policyholders due to the rescission . 11 status changing edit blue shield of california was stripped of its tax exempt status by the california franchise tax board in 2014 . the los angeles times has reported on an audit of the huge nonprofit california health insurer that was used in part as the basis for denying tax exempt status . blue shield is contesting the decision ; having to pay state taxes back to 2009 could cost the company more than 100 million . in a june 2014 letter to the company tax board officials wrote that blue shield is not operating exclusively for the promotion of civic betterment or social welfare according to the times . and part of the reason was blue shield s massive cash reserves which had swollen to more than 4 billion by last year . consumer advocates have criticized the company saying it should use those amassed profits to provide more free or reduced cost health care to needy californians . the company says it already caps profits and provides abundant charity to californians and that some of the accumulated cash is earmarked for a major acquisition to expand its business into the medicaid area . quality of care edit in the california healthcare quality report card 2009 edition blue shield of california received 3 out of 4 stars in meeting national standards of care and 2 out of 4 stars in how members rate their hmo . 12 references edit mission and values blue shield of california . www.blueshieldca.com . retrieved 2016 03 17 . a b with billions in the bank blue shield of california loses its state tax exempt status . los angeles times . retrieved 2016 09 01 . a b c d corporate history and timeline blue shield of california . www.blueshieldca.com . retrieved 2016 03 17 . a b c financial summary and data blue shield of california . www.blueshieldca.com . retrieved 2016 03 17 . company facts and network statistics blue shield of california . blueshieldca.com . 28 january 2016 . corporate history and timeline blue shield of california . blueshieldca.com . 12 september 2011 . http hprc.ncqa.org resultdetails.asp plan blue shield of california & pl commercial & rp hmo % 2fpos combined & id 163 & st mco & txtpageno 1 & from r. retrieved august 30 2008 . missing or empty title help dead link accountable care organization featuring shared global risk stimulates development of initiatives to improve care reduces inpatient use and costs . agency for healthcare research and quality . 2013 05 08 . retrieved 2013 05 09 . seipel tracy march 19 2015 . california drops hammer on blue shield tax exempt status . san jose mercury news . retrieved march 19 2015 . blue shield of california closes on acquisition of care1st enters medi cal medicaid . blue shield . 2 health insurers to pay 13m to calif. regulators . ap google . 2008 07 18 . retrieved 2008 07 18 . state of california health care quality report card 2009 edition external links edit official blue shield of california website california healthcare quality report card 2009 edition retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title blue shield of california & oldid 743697961 categories health insurance in the united statesinsurance companies of the united statesmembers of blue cross blue shield associationamerican companies established in 19391939 establishments in californiacompanies based in san franciscohidden categories pages with citations lacking titlespages with citations having bare urlsall articles with dead external linksarticles with dead external links from june 2016 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 19 36 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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