Part of (he clerical staff al (he Chapel Hill office. Shown from front
to rear are group hilling department, direct billing department and
filing department. Part of group hilling department not shown. Arch¬
way to other office is on the right.
Hospital Saving
Association
The growth of this non-profit civic
service orgnnizntion in North Car-
olin;i has been remarkable, as has
the entire Klue Cross movement in
the l n i ted States.
Approximately every two
minutes of the night and day.
isome person is admitted io
a hospital in North Carolina. One
out of ten of all these patients are
people who have protection under
the service benefits of Hospital
Saving Association of North Caro¬
lina, Inc., Chapel Hill, the largest
Blue Cross Plan south of Baltimore
and St. Louis. One of the pictures
accompanying this article shows
the membership certificates stacked
on the group enrollment desks of
the Registration Department of
Hospital Saving Association,
where over 300 new hospital sub¬
scribers are added each working
day. In addition, there are as many
or more added to the surgical and
obstetrical program. Many of the
latter, of course, are transfers from
hospital protection only, to the
combined coverage. Over 241.000
North Carolinians now have pro¬
tection and over 77.000 of these
also carry the combined coverage.
This company now has active par¬
ticipants in ninety-seven of the one
hundred counties of the state.
Winston-Salem, North Carolina has
the distinction of establishing a
record. Over 45,000 citizens in
this city have the protection offered
by Hospital Saving Association.
Mr. E. B. Crawford. Executive
Vice President, modestly states
that the people of Winston-Salem
were alive to the advantages of
such a program, thus demonstrat¬
ing much forward thinking. He
states there is no reason why every
community in the state should not
be similarly protected. Inciden¬
tally, many of the Blue Cross Plans
in other states have enrolled over
one-half of the population of the \
cities, and even of the entire terri¬
tories, in which they operate.
History
Dr. I. H. Manning, formerly
Dean of the Medical School of the
University of North Carolina, and
now Chairman of the Board of
Hospital Saving Association, and
Medical Director, says:
“During the depression of the
1930 s. the hospitals of North Caro¬
lina were carrying a very heavy
charity load which threatened
their financial stability. Had it not
been for the contributions of the
Duke Foundation, many of them
may have closed. Something more
for their relief had to be done.
"A similar situation began at
an earlier period in England, where
the voluntary hospitals had been
supported by legacies and un¬
organized public contributions. |
These proved to be inadequate and
the plan of the ‘contributory’ as-
sociations was conceived. These I
associations were, in brief, organ- |
ized public giving for the support
of the hospitals. By payroll de¬
duction, employees and employers |
made regular contributions.
“In the United States, the Eng¬
lish plan with certain modifica- |
tions was first attempted at Baylor I
University, Texas, and later in
Essex County, New Jersey, and
in the cities of Minneapolis, Min¬
nesota and Cleveland, Ohio. They
succeeded and proved not only a
great help to the members in pay¬
ing their hospital bills, but a great
relief to the hospitals. No plan
for a rural state had been sug¬
gested.
“At the meeting of the State
Medical Society in 1934, I, as presi¬
dent of the Society, suggested the
organization of a pre-payment I
hospitalization plan on a state-wide I
program, to be sponsored by the I
North Carolina Hospital Associa- I
tion. and the Medical Society of I
North Carolina. Later, acting on I
this suggestion, a joint committee I
representing the two associations I
was appointed to formulate a pro¬
gram. This committee, of which
1 was chairman, adopted the Cleve¬
land plan, with some modifications.
"In the course of the discussions,
it became evident that neither the
Hospital Association nor the Medi¬
cal Society could assume all finan¬
cial responsibility and some funds
would be necessary to further the
organization of the Association
which was to be incorporated as
the Hospital Saving Association of
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