If Blue Cross Blue Shield went bankrupt and was forced to close I would consider it one of the most hilarious events in a decade. They have been a huge backer of all of this. They pulled a stunt in Tennessee back around 1993 that sounded like pages out of Barry and Nancy’s playbook. Look up Tenncare and Blue Cross. They ran roughshod over Tennessee doctors to get a system called Tenncare established to replace Medicaid. They also ran full page scaremonger adds telling people to call their state assembly members to support Tenncare. So what HMO ended up with the majority of Tenncare patients? BC/BS
There are/were 30 odd Blue Cross Blue Shield companies. Anthem is one, BC/BS Tennessee is another, Horizon is another, CareFirst is another.
Each Blue has a defined geographical area. They do not compete with each other.
The Blue Cross/Blue Shield Association, headquartered in Chicago, is the company that issues Licenses to the aforementioned companies so they can use the BC/BS Shield.
And no, the association does not own any of the other companies.