In an effort to help the public better manage their health insurance needs, the Illinois Department of Insurance (DOI) is informing consumers of the process by which insurance companies terminate a health insurance plan in Illinois and the steps to take in the event a consumer’s health insurance plan is terminated.

When an insurance company chooses to stop providing a particular type of coverage, the company must go through two important processes:

1) Notify the Illinois Department of Insurance of the company’s decision.  The company’s notice must contain: a specific description of the type of coverage affected; the total number of covered lives affected; a draft of the letter that will be sent to the plan sponsors and participants, beneficiaries or covered individuals; time frames for the actions being taken; and any options the plan sponsors, participants, beneficiaries or covered individuals may have available to them under 215 ILCS 97/50.

Federal officials could end up overseeing the new Illinois health insurance marketplace for years to come after lawmakers in Springfield balked again at a full embrace of President Barack Obama's health care law.

The Legislature adjourned Friday without sending Gov. Pat Quinn's a bill on a state-run marketplace — a consumer-friendly online shopping site for insurance. Quinn has pushed such a plan for three years without success.

Although the state will partner with Washington the first year, the Democratic governor had hoped Illinois could take the reins in 2014 for coverage starting in 2015. That timetable now seems highly unlikely unless lawmakers pass legislation when they convene for the abbreviated veto session this fall.

More of this AP story can be read in the Daily Herald.