HealthCareForAmericaNow

[Chicago, IL] On May 22^nd, Health Care for America Now will release a new report showing how a lack of real competition in the Illinois health insurance marketplace is causing skyrocketing premiums for both patients and employers.

The report shows how a handful of private health insurance companies have built a near-monopoly in the Illinois market, burdening families and businesses with premiums that grew 5.6 times faster than wages from 2000 to 2007.  Illinois’ two largest health insurers control 67% share of the market. Under a competition rating system used by the U.S. Justice Department, the Illinois market is “concentrated.” The local markets are even worse for Rockford (82%), Bloomington-Normal (87%), and Champaign-Urbana (83%) where the US Justice Department considers these local markets “highly concentrated.”

Yesterday, members of the Senate Finance Committee discussed the use of a “trigger” for the implementation of the Public Health Insurance Option.  They are strongly considering the idea that a public health insurance plan would trigger if competition proves inadequate in a geographical region.  It is clear that it is time to pull the trigger and create real competition in Illinois.

Follow link to full report:

http://healthcareforamericanow.org/site/content/new_report_private_insurers_consolidate_and_control_prices

Follow link to press coverage on report:

Lake County Journal

WBBM Radio