<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;">Fyi...<br><br>--- On <b>Wed, 10/13/10, Allison Jones <i><allison@healthcareconsumers.org></i></b> wrote:<blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"><div class="plainMail">Dear Friends,<br><br>Champaign County Health Care Consumers (CCHCC) is asking you to volunteer<br>for a special event to help us build support for new laws in Illinois that<br>would require the State to regulate health insurance companies' premium rate<br>increases.<br><br>Please read below for more information about insurance rate increases and<br>how you can help.<br><br>HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUM RATES IN ILLINOIS:<br><br>* Did you know that the state of Illinois has NO power to regulate health<br>insurance premiums and premium rate increases?<br>* Did you know that Illinois is one of the few states in our nation to
have<br>overwhelmingly for-profit health insurance plans (as opposed to non-profit)?<br>* Did you know that Illinois has received more applications for the new<br>high-risk pool of insurance coverage than any other state?<br><br>It is no wonder that Illinois residents and employers find it increasingly<br>difficult to afford health insurance premiums!<br><br>HEALTH REFORM AND STATE LAWS GOVERNING PREMIUM RATE INCREASES:<br><br>Despite the many new health insurance benefits, regulations and consumer<br>protections now in effect as a result of the national health reform law,<br>Illinois remains behind many states in providing consumers with a<br>fundamental protection: the protection from unchecked insurance premium rate<br>increases.<br><br>Why? Well, national health reform did NOT include premium rate regulation,<br>and instead, relies on states to take on that responsibility.<br><br>And many states do, but not Illinois. In Illinois, health
insurance<br>companies can raise their premium rates by any amount, for any reason,<br>without any interference from regulations and regulators.<br><br><br>SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY TO ADVOCATE FOR REGULATING INSURANCE RATES:<br><br>Now is the perfect time to act to make health insurance premium rate<br>regulation a reality in Illinois! Both IL Governor Pat Quinn and IL<br>Department of Insurance Director Michael McRaith want the Illinois state<br>legislature to pass laws to allow the Department of Insurance to regulate<br>insurance premium rates!<br><br>Please join with Champaign County Health Care Consumers (CCHCC) to build<br>support for premium rate regulation in Illinois. We need to reach thousands<br>of down-state residents to educate them about the need and this opportunity<br>and get them to sign-on to our efforts to show popular support for this<br>legislation!<br><br><br>HOW YOU CAN HELP - VOLUNTEER FOR A SPECIAL PHONE-A-THON:<br><br>You can help
build this movement by volunteering for the 2010 CCHCC<br>Phone-A-Thon which is focused on building support for insurance premium rate<br>regulation!<br><br>The Phone-A-Thon (PAT) is one of CCHCC's most important events of the year.<br>The PAT allows us to reach out and talk to over 4,000 of our members, get<br>them involved to take action, and raise funds needed to continue working for<br>health care justice. This year we are dedicating our Phone-a-thon to asking<br>our members to take action on the issue of regulating health insurance<br>premium increases in the sate of Illinois.<br><br>The Phone-a-thon is a great way to make a big impact and help a lot of<br>people to take action on an important issue, but we can't reach everyone<br>without the help of our volunteers. Volunteer for one or more nights of the<br>2010 Phone-a-thon! Details about our calling nights are below.<br><br><br>HOW WILL THE PHONE-A-THON HELP US WIN HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUM
RATE<br>REGULATION?<br><br>We will be calling thousands of people, talking to each person, and asking<br>them to add their names to a sign-on letter that CCHCC will deliver to<br>Governor Quinn, the Director of the Department of Insurance, Governor<br>Quinn's Health Reform Implementation Council, and our legislators, calling<br>for health insurance premium rate regulation. Our efforts will coordinate<br>with those of other organizations throughout the state, and that is how we<br>will build support to push the state legislature to pass a law that will<br>require Illinois to regulate health insurance premium rates.<br><br><br>PHONE-A-THON INFORMATION:<br><br>WHAT: CCHCC Phone-A-Thon<br><br>WHEN: Monday, October 18; Tuesday, October 19; Thursday, October 21; <br>Monday,October 25; Tuesday, October 26; and Wednesday, October 27<br><br>TIME: 5:00 - 8:30 p.m. each evening<br><br>WHERE: CCHCC Office - 44 East Main Street, suite 208, in
downtown Champaign.<br><br>**We need at least 10 volunteers to staff the phones each night. We provide<br>training and free food!<br><br>RSVP: Call CCHCC at (217) 352-6533 or email <a ymailto="mailto:cchcc@healthcareconsumers.org" href="/mc/compose?to=cchcc@healthcareconsumers.org">cchcc@healthcareconsumers.org</a><br>and let us know you'd like to participate. You can also RSVP on our website:<br><br><a href="http://www.healthcareconsumers.org/index.php?action=Display%20Page&id=797" target="_blank">http://www.healthcareconsumers.org/index.php?action=Display%20Page&id=797</a><br><br>Thank you for your support!<br><br>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br>Champaign County Health Care Consumers<br>44 E. Main Street Suite 208<br>Champaign, IL 61820<br><br>Phone: (217) 352-6533<br>Fax: (217) 352-9745<br>E-mail: <a ymailto="mailto:cchcc@healthcareconsumers.org"
href="/mc/compose?to=cchcc@healthcareconsumers.org">cchcc@healthcareconsumers.org</a><br>Web: www.healthcareconsumers.org<br>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br><br>Support health care justice - donate to CCHCC today! Visit our website to make a tax-deductible contribution today.<br><a href="http://www.healthcareconsumers.org/index.php?action=Donation" target="_blank">http://www.healthcareconsumers.org/index.php?action=Donation</a><br>_______________________________________________<br>To manage your subscription to the CCHCC email list, please click the link below.<br>cchcc-l mailing list<br><a ymailto="mailto:cchcc-l@lists.shout.net" href="/mc/compose?to=cchcc-l@lists.shout.net">cchcc-l@lists.shout.net</a><br><a href="http://lists.shout.net/mailman/listinfo/cchcc-l" target="_blank">http://lists.shout.net/mailman/listinfo/cchcc-l</a><br></div></blockquote></td></tr></table><br>