By the 1950s, employer-sponsored health insurance was the norm.This arrangement saw employers paying most of the cost of the insurance premiums, in return for a business tax deduction. Eadier, the hospital industry had pioneered its own insurance plan during the Great Depression under the name Blue Cross. Blue Cross insurance plans helped middle-class families to defray hospital expenses that otherwise might have led to personal bankruptcies.Blue Cross was soon joined by Blue Shield, an invention of the medical community that was designed to assist those who needed assistance with paying their physicians' fees. "The Blues," as these private plans were jointly called, were incorporated
as nonprofit entities. The plans were sold through community groups and also through many U.S. corporations.