Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield
ORG
Blue Cross Blue Shield Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield Blue Cross Empire
When New York State allowed Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield to convert into a profit-making company in 2002, it set aside 5 percent of the proceeds for a foundation to continue the insurer's core mission, providing health care to those who could not afford coverage. Some consumer groups are livid about the plan, particularly after they have already lost a legal battle to direct the state to put all the proceeds from the Empire conversion into the foundation, just as many states have done when they have allowed their Blue Cross plans to become profit-making businesses. When New York State allowed Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield to convert into a profit-making company in 2002, it set aside 5 percent of the proceeds for a foundation to continue the insurer's core mission -- providing health care to those who could not afford coverage. George E. Pataki is proposing that more than half of the foundation's $260 million endowment be redirected into biomedical research. And his plan to use that amount, $160 million, held by the fledgling New York Charitable Asset Foundation, has the support of the state's other top Republican, Joseph L. Bruno, the majority leader in the State Senate. That's an oversimplistic statement of it, but that's the essence of it, which was the original purpose of Blue Cross Blue Shield. 