Illinois Affordable Insurance Exchange Grants Awards List
Illinois has received three grant awards to build its Affordable Insurance Exchange. This includes a Planning Grant and two Level One Establishment Grants.
Summaries of Illinois’ applications for each grant are provided below:
Establishment Grant Level One Application Summary
Administrator: Illinois Department of Insurance
Award Amount: $5,128,454, $32,789,377
Award Date: August 12, 2011; May 16, 2012
Application Due Date: June 30, 2011; March 30, 2012
Level of Funding: Level One
Summary: Illinois will use its resources provided by the Affordable Care Act to conduct additional Exchange research that will examine issues related to Risk-Adjustment/Reinsurance, Navigator Function, Certification of Qualified Health Plans, and SHOP Exchange. The state will build upon the Governor’s Health Reform Website where Stakeholders can offer their input. The state also plans on developing an Exchange Education Toolkit that it will make available both in print and online. To address Exchange IT Systems, the state will begin to design both the business requirements of the Exchange and IT detailed design for Illinois-specific aspects of the Exchange infrastructure. The state will also hire a fulltime employee for the Exchange who will manage the various fiscal responsibilities.
Illinois submitted a second Level One Establishment grant for funding to support the design, building, establishment, and maintenance of an Illinois American Health Benefits Exchange (IL HIX). Illinois will use these requested funds to set up an HIX Design Management Team, to continue development of a Consumer Assistance Portal, and to continue development of a Navigator Education and Training Program. Funds will also be used to hire an HIX Systems Integration Vendor, Integrated Eligibility System (IES) Project Management Office staff, and an IES vendor. Illinois will also continue analyses of the Essential Health Benefits program; the actuarial value, cost sharing, and quality of participating insurance plans; and the federal-state partnership option.
State Planning Grant
Awarded September 30, 2010
Administrator: Illinois Department of Insurance
Amount Awarded: $1,000,000
Award Supplement: $71,784 (October 5, 2011)
- Conduct comprehensive review of the status of health coverage in Illinois.
- Develop structure and timeline for implementation of an Exchange that follows recommendations of Health Reform Implementation Council.
- Assess resources needed for the implementation of an Exchange.
- Confer with State agencies about Exchange infrastructure.
- Involve stakeholders to ensure transparency.
- Draft legislation that will enable an Exchange.
- Perform strategic planning on the operational, financial, technical requirements to sustain an Exchange.
- Needs Assessment project related to the Basic Health Program (BHP) option.