Illinois Department of Insurance
National Association of Insurance Commisioner’s
Health Insurance Rates News Release: 1/17/2005
Category: Health Insurance Rate Enforcement
Washington, DC – A federal judge today ruled in favor of the
National Association of Insurance Commisioners and its efforts to recoup more than $100 million for health insurance consumers nation wide, an amount which the agency contends that a select few insurance companies may have overcharged health insurance consumers by inflating
Illinois health insurance prices and
Illinois health insurance
quotes.
The federal judicial panel and courts actions allows the NAIC to help reduce
Illinois health insurance
rates. The objective of NAIC staff throughout this action has been to provide health insurance rate relief for health insurance consumer policyholders who have been charged excessive health insurance rates.
NAIC staff, using authority granted by the federal judicial panel’s decision, ordered health insurance companies to reduce its health owners rates by 12 percent in September 2004.
Illinois health insurance companies appealed the reduction in district court, claiming that the they had been denied due process in ordering the rate reduction.
“NAIC staff’s latest action, based on a different law was designed to address the court’s concerns regarding due process,” said NAIC’s Deputy Commissioner for Policy. “Despite the insurance companies objections, the courts have allowed the debate based on the facts to move forward. In the end we believe the facts will show that their rates can be reduced.”
NAIC staff contends that health insurance companies have been overcharging its policyholders since June 11, 2003, the effective date of Senate Bill 14. NAIC is seeking a refund of the excessive premium plus 10 percent interest. The total amount will be calculated from June 11, 2003, to present.
More
Illinois Facts: Great Britain obtained the region at the end of the French and Indian Wars in 1763. The area figured prominently in frontier struggles during the Revolutionary War and in Indian wars during the early 19th century. Significant episodes in the state's early history include the influx of settlers following the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825; the Black Hawk War, which virtually ended the Indian troubles in the area; and the rise of Abraham Lincoln from farm laborer to president. Today, Illinois stands high in manufacturing, coal mining, agriculture, and oil production.
The state's manufactures include food and agricultural products, transportation equipment, chemicals, industrial machinery, and computer equipment. The sprawling Chicago district (including a slice of Indiana) is a great iron and steel producer, meat packer, grain exchange, and railroad center. Chicago is also famous as a Great Lakes port. Illinois is a leading producer of soybeans, corn, and hogs. Other agricultural commodities include cattle, wheat, oats, sorghum, and hay. Central Illinois is noted for shrines and memorials associated with the life of Abraham Lincoln. In Springfield are the Lincoln Home, the Lincoln Tomb, and the restored Old State Capitol. Other points of interest are the home of Mormon leader Joseph Smith in Nauvoo and, in Chicago: the Art Institute, Field Museum, Museum of Science and Industry, Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium, Merchandise Mart, and Chicago Portage National Historic Site. Prairie State Algonquin for “tribe of superior men”
The ten largest cities in Illinois are: Chicago, Rockford, Aurora, Naperville, Peoria, Springfield, Joliet, Elgin, Waukegan, and Cicero.
|
