The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) member health plans collectively insure more than 100 million Americans, and although they are not supporters of President Obama’s health care reform proposal which would establish a public health plan that would compete with private health insurers, they are firm believers that everyone in our country should have health insurance.  Consequently many Blue Cross Blue Shield member health plans are undertaking state initiatives to increase the availability of affordable health insurance plans to the uninsured.

Over the next several days we will identify some of these state initiatives.

The first initiative is one launched by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, called the Alabama Child Caring Program (ACCP).  The program established in 1988 provides immediate and ongoing care to uninsured children in Alabama who are ineligible for state sponsored health programs.  Since the program was launched, nearly 70,000 Alabama children have received health coverage, helping Alabama lead the nation with the lowest % of uninsured children.