(a) The Director of Insurance shall establish the Office of Consumer Health Insurance within the Department of Insurance to provide assistance and information to all health care consumers within the State. Within the appropriation allocated, the Office shall provide information and assistance to all health care consumers by:
        (1) assisting consumers in understanding health
    
insurance marketing materials and the coverage provisions of individual plans;
        (2) educating enrollees about their rights within
    
individual plans;
        (3) assisting enrollees with the process of filing
    
formal grievances and appeals;
        (4) establishing and operating a toll-free “800”
    
telephone number line to handle consumer inquiries;
        (5) making related information available in languages
    
other than English that are spoken as a primary language by a significant portion of the State’s population, as determined by the Department;
        (6) analyzing, commenting on, monitoring, and making
    
publicly available reports on the development and implementation of federal, State, and local laws, regulations, and other governmental policies and actions that pertain to the adequacy of health care plans, facilities, and services in the State;
        (7) filing an annual report with the Governor, the
    
Director, and the General Assembly, which shall contain recommendations for improvement of the regulation of health insurance plans, including recommendations on improving health care consumer assistance and patterns, abuses, and progress that it has identified from its interaction with health care consumers; and
        (8) performing all duties assigned to the Office by
    
the Director.
    (b) The report required under subsection (a)(7) shall be filed by January 31, 2001 and each January 31 thereafter.

Terms Used In Illinois Compiled Statutes 215 ILCS 134/90

  • Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
  • individual: shall include every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 5 ILCS 70/1.36
  • State: when applied to different parts of the United States, may be construed to include the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" may be construed to include the said district and territories. See Illinois Compiled Statutes 5 ILCS 70/1.14

     (c) Nothing in this Section shall be interpreted to authorize access to or disclosure of individual patient or health care professional or provider records.
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