Idaho Blue Cross of Idaho and Regence BlueShield Idaho are separate companies and compete throughout the state. In 2019, Regence BlueShield Idaho announced a strategic alliance (not a merger) with Blue Cross North Carolina. Kansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas (BCBSKS) was founded in 1942 by Sam Bartham, later becoming an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Louisiana BlueCross BlueShield of Louisiana is a tax-paying non-profit that was founded in 1934 in New Orleans. An independent licensee of the BCBSA, it is a privately held mutual company without shareholders, which is wholly owned by its policyholders. Minnesota Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota (BCBSMN) was founded in 1933, with 3,500 employees reported in 2022. Mississippi Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi (BCBSMS) was formed as a privately held company in 1954. In 1948, it was converted to a non-profit. In 1973, its name was changed from Mississippi Hospital and Medical Service to Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi, Inc., which, in 1996, was converted from a non-profit membership corporation to a mutual insurance company, with the name again changed, to Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi, A Mutual Insurance Company. During 2022, BCBS and University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) network entered conflict over who is to blame for an increasing lack of covered care in the state. Media reported that UMMC had paid close to $279,000 for digital advertising, commercials, and billboards to attack BCBS, which, in subsequent months, sued the hospital for defamation. Nebraska Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska was founded in 1939. On July 1, 2018, BCBS Nebraska formed GoodLife Partners Inc., a mutual holding company, to conduct its noninsurance businesses. The company retained the Blue Cross brand, converting from mutual ownership to a stock company wholly owned by GoodLife. New York Excellus BlueCross BlueShield (Excellus BCBS, or Excellus) is a non-profit health insurance company headquartered in Rochester, New York. It is part of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Excellus BCBS is Upstate New York's largest nonprofit health plan. In 2001, Excellus merged with Univera Healthcare, (formerly North AmeriCare), based in Buffalo. Univera retained its name and is separate from Excellus BCBS. Excellus was the target of a cyberattack in 2015, in which 10.5 million records were hacked, and cost the company 17.5 million dollars. The company's BlueCross BlueShield subsidiaries have been known as: BlueCross BlueShield of Central