About CARE
Consolidated Associations of Railroad Employees (CARE) is located in Temple, Texas and is staffed with 10 full time employees ranging in tenure between 5 years and 42 years. We pride ourselves on building longtime relationships with our “members” and doing whatever it takes to assist them in getting their medical needs taken care of.
As we enter our 140th year of service, with our friendly staff’s extensive experience, we are able to serve the needs of our members on a personal, one on one basis, unlike large companies that only identify their participants by a number.
OUR HISTORY
CARE, often referred to as a “Hospital Association”, is a non-profit, charitable and benevolent organization operating in compliance with all applicable provisions of Section 501(c)9 of the Internal Revenue Act of 1954, as same may be amended, or the comparable section of any future Revenue Act.
Our private Hospital Association was established in 1884. The history of the Hospital Association is rich in heritage, and we are very proud of it. CARE has evolved over the years as a result of mergers of the Railway Companies of Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway Company, Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company and lastly the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company. Also, the evolution of mergers between Hospital Associations – The A.T. & S.F. Employes Benefit Association out of Topeka, Kansas and the Santa Fe Employees Hospital Association out of Temple, Texas.
In 1891, the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway Company was one of the first to come up with a revolutionary idea for its employees, to create a system-wide prepaid hospitalization plan...., the Hospital Association. The Railway collected a portion of each rail employee’s paycheck and placed it in a fund used solely to pay for medical expenses for the railroaders. This fund still exists today and has been entrusted to the Hospital Association and its Board of Trustees for over 139 years. The funds are still used solely to pay for medical expenses for current and former BNSF railway (and its subsidiaries) employees and their dependents and for administrative expenses to administer the plan.