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Commission Says State's New HMO Deals Are Proper
URBANA, Ill. (AP) -- A state commission says the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services properly awarded group health insurance contracts to new providers.

The decision by the Executive Ethics Commission means tens of thousands of state employees and retirees in central Illinois will have to choose new insurance and new doctors.

The commission told The News-Gazette in Champaign Tuesday that new contracts with Blue Cross and Blue Shield and two open-access plans will save the state money.

Existing providers Health Alliance Medical Plans and Humana protested the contracts, which they say would require many of their roughly 100,000 patients to travel to see new doctors. Many doctors in the Champaign area have exclusive contracts with Health Alliance.

HFS Director Julie Hamos believes those doctors will sign deals with the new open-access plans.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
05 25 11 by Newsroom
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