First meeting of Health Application Working Group to be held on Thursday, February 11

CHICAGO—The Illinois Department of Insurance announced today that the Health Application Working Group (“Working Group”) will hold its first meeting Thursday, February 11, 2010, at the Department’s offices in Springfield and Chicago.  The meeting is open to the public.

Background

The Working Group was created as a result of Public Act 95-857, which requires the development of standard health insurance applications to make it easier for individuals and small businesses in Illinois to shop for health insurance and compare competing plans.  While individuals and small businesses seeking quotes from competing health insurance plans must now complete a separate application for each health insurer, the Working Group will develop a single health insurance application that will be used by all insurers and HMOs beginning January 1, 2011.

The Working Group is comprised of a diverse group of health care experts and consumer advocates, small business owners, insurance agents, and insurance company representatives.

Meeting Details

The first meeting of the Working Group will take place on Thursday, February 11, from 10am – 12pm. The meeting will be held in the Department of Insurance offices in Springfield and Chicago:

James R. Thompson Center
100 West Randolph
9th Floor Videoconference Room (9-375)
Chicago, IL 60601

320 West Washington
4th Floor Videoconference Room
Springfield, IL 62767

All meetings of the Working Group will be announced in advance and open to the public.  If you plan on attending, please RSVP to Josef Weimholt at joe.weimholt@illinois.gov or (312) 814-5436.

Working Group Members

• Salim Al Nurridin, Healthcare Consortium of Illinois
• Stephanie Altman, Health and Disability Advocates
• David Borris, Hel’s Kitchen Catering
• Catherine Bresler, Trustmark Insurance Company
• Lori Collings, HumanaOne Underwriting
• Jaime Delgado, Sinai Urban Institute
• Ann Hilton Fisher, AIDS Legal Council of Chicago
• Sheri Sternberg Hokin, Hokin Sternberg Insurance Services
• Brian Imus, Illinois Public Interest Research Group
• Robin Katzmayr, Hallmark Services Corporation
• Karen Knippen, Euclid Managers
• Jim Knutson, Aircraft Gear Corporation
• Gordana Krkic, Illinois Academy of Family Physicians
• Joe Lotus, Assurant Health
• Jennifer McDermott Creasey, AARP
• Thomas Mercier, Bloomington Offset Process, Inc.
• Anne Marie Murphy, Chicago Breast Cancer Quality Consortium
• Matthew Noonan III, M N Hardware, Inc.
• John Peller, AIDS Foundation of Chicago
• Kathy Ridder, JK Creative Printers & Mailing
• Brian Smith, Rogers Benefit Group
• Margaret Stapleton, Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law