Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 1, 1994 TAG: 9407010088
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The name on the company's Roanoke headquarters on South Jefferson Street will be changed the week of July 11.
Plans to assume the new name first were announced in June 1993.
The Trigon name will be used for the company's flagship health insurance operation in Virginia. The company's legal name remains unchanged.
The change in trade name will have no effect on costs or coverage for any of the company's 1.8 million policyholders.
Existing Blue Cross Blue Shield customer identification cards remain valid. Generally, replacements with the new trade name will be issued as policies are renewed.
The company will begin using the Trigon name immediately in all marketing and customer service. Other materials bearing the Trigon name will be phased in over the next several months.
"The Trigon name reflects our current strengths and successes and identifies the company as a driving force on the leading edge of health care reform," according to Chairman Norwood Davis.
Davis said last year that adoption of the Trigon name reflects the company's expansion into new markets outside Virginia.
He said the word ``trigon'' stands for a three-sided figure that has applications in medicine, mathematics and music.
The company's logo, however, will continue to use the traditional blue cross and shield. Trigon will remain a member of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an organization of 72 independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Virginia was founded in 1935 as a prepaid health plan.
It has evolved into a mutual insurance company that offers health care financing and management, employee benefits products and information technologies to customers in 35 states and the United Kingdom. Most of these subsidiaries will retain their names but with the notation that they are a Trigon company.
by CNB