The dental benefits industry rapidly increased from the blossoming medical health insurance market. Hopefully, we are able to better understand the dental benefits industry by increasingly acquainted with its roots and natural progression.

Medical health insurance started to look within the U . s . States around 1850 also it only offered advantages to individuals who have been disabled by accidental injuries.5 Benefits for treatment did not start to emerge until 1910, and coverage for hospital, surgical, medical and nursing care expenses started in 1930.5 The first medical health insurance models were traditional fee-for-service plans (also referred to as indemnity insurance coverage). These were rapidly adopted by numerous prepaid health plans, considered the precursors to today’s managed care insurance models including health maintenance organizations (HMO) and preferred provider organizations (PPO).

The very first demonstration of managed care insurance came into being in 1917 in Tacoma, Washington once the Western Clinic started supplying the lumber industry with prepaid physician services.6 In 1929, Dr. Justin Ford Kimball was instrumental in creating nowhere Mix brand by introduced a prepaid hospitalization arrange for local teachers backed by Baylor Hospital in Texas.6 Nowhere Shield program was utilized in 1939 for participating prepaid physician plans.6

Among the pioneers accountable for making quality healthcare and insurance open to Americans was industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. In 1938, Kaiser employed Dr. Garfield to assist create prepaid clinic and hospital take care of his Grand Coulee Dam project.6 In 1942, Kaiser and Dr. Garfield established a prepaid healthcare program for that employees of Kaiser shipyards and Kaiser steel mills that helped popularize health maintenance organizations.7 Kaiser Permanente remains prominent within the HMO insurance market even today.3

By 1949, there have been 81 Blue Mix hospital plans and 44 Blue Shield health care insurance plans, covering as many as 24 million Americans.6 Blue Mix companies and Blue Shield insurance coverage covered 52 million and 40 million Americans correspondingly by 1959.6 After merging, Blue Mix Blue Shield with each other covered 87.4 million Americans by 1979.6 So Blue Mix Blue Shield, certainly one of today’s top insurance firms, was very influential in early managed care insurance movement.