Health Care Service Corporation And Community Partners Reach More Than Six Million Children Through Health And Wellness Initiatives

CHICAGO, April 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), the nation's largest customer-owned health insurer, collaborated with hundreds of community partners to improve the health and wellness of more than 6.7 million children in less than three years.

According to the company's just-released Social Responsibility Report, which can be found online at www.hcsc2013srr.com, HCSC and local nonprofit organizations made significant progress reaching at-risk children by focusing community investments on nutrition, physical activity, disease prevention and management, and supporting safe environments. These four focus areas comprise the Healthy Kids, Healthy Families® initiative which was launched in 2011 as a three-year initiative to improve the health and wellness of at least one million children through community outreach and investments by Health Care Service Corporation and its Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

"Thanks to the hard work of our community partners, we have been able to expand our efforts to help improve the health of the most vulnerable children and families in our local communities," said David Sandor, vice president, public affairs, Health Care Service Corporation. "Our employees also played a pivotal role by volunteering more than 45,000 hours to community organizations that share our vision of helping children and their families have access to the resources they need to live healthy lives."

In just three years, with the help of more than 300 community partners, Healthy Kids, Healthy Families has far exceeded its initial goal. Due to the success of the initiative, HCSC will continue to expand the program beyond its initial three-year term to become part of the company's ongoing commitment to support the health and wellness of the communities it serves. The program will also expand to include communities served by HCSC's Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana health plan.

The company's report also highlights progress across other components of its social responsibility including diversity and inclusion, sustainability and compliance.

Additional examples of HCSC's collaboration with community organizations in 2013 include:

• Be Covered – Partnering with more than 250 organizations to educate more than 3.6 million people on the basics of the Affordable Care Act.
• KaBOOM! – Building 10 new playgrounds, adding shade structures to four existing playgrounds, and granting two Imagination Playgrounds to help bring exercise and safe play to more than 31,000 children.
• The Care Van® Program – Bringing mobile health care to uninsured children and families, including 150,000 free immunizations, blood pressure screenings and other services.

Additional highlights of the company's contributions outlined in the 2013 report include:

• Employees donating more than $930,000 to a variety of organizations through HCSC's annual employee giving campaign.
• Employees volunteering more than 45,000 hours in their local communities, an increase of 46 percent compared to 2012 and breaking previous records.
• Saving more than 15 million gallons of water and recycling more than 2,000 tons of paper through the company's ongoing sustainability efforts.
• Receiving their 13^th straight Compliance Best Practice Award.

As in the previous year, the 2013 report was produced digitally, reducing environmental impact and enabling a more dynamic presentation of community partnerships through videos and social media integration. Readers can instantly share and comment on a specific page of the report through Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter or email the entire report to friends and colleagues.

About Health Care Service Corporation
Health Care Service Corporation is the country's largest customer-owned health insurer and fourth largest health insurer overall, with nearly 14 million members in its Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas. A Mutual Legal Reserve Company, HCSC is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. For more information, please visit www.HCSC.com, visit our Facebook page or follow us at www.twitter.com/HCSC.

SOURCE Health Care Service Corporation