Maritime Blue Cross

Created by act of incorporation between 1943 and 1949 in Nova Scotia (1943), New Brunswick (1944), Prince Edward Island (1944) and Newfoundland (1949), Maritime Blue Cross was a successful, private, non-profit, prepaid health insurance plan. It offered subscribers prepaid hospital care with set premiums, clearly defined terms of care and limited maximum benefits. The plan’s success illustrated the demand for health insurance in the Maritimes: it acquired over 90,000 subscribers within 18 months of its introduction. Maritime Blue Cross’s introduction to the benefits of centrally administered health insurance was a step on the road to medicare.

This advertisement from 1956 shows how Blue Cross and other private non-profit organizations turned to providing coverage for the services that would not be covered by the government hospital insurance plans.
Courtesy of Medavie Blue Cross

Transcription:
BLUE CROSS - fits into any Health-Welfare programme