Laura Minzer: Insurance companies play vital role in health care affordability

I am writing about pending legislation in the Illinois General Assembly that targets the accessibility and affordability of health care in Illinois. As the president of the Illinois Life and Health Insurance Council, ensuring that consumers have access to affordable high-quality health care is the council's top priority and one that we devote our time, energy and resources on achieving.

Recently, I presented testimony in a Subject Matter Hearing to the Illinois House Human Services Committee on House Bill 5395. Although I expressed concerns that the legislation as written may have unintended consequences to the detriment of patients, both in terms of high costs and reduced access to medical care, I emphasized our commitment to working with Gov. Pritzker and the members of the General Assembly.

I'm pleased to say that our continued efforts to work together are bearing fruit. The ongoing dialogue has generated progress fine-tuning the proposed legislation. We have more work to do – the bill is in the very beginning stages of the legislative process and there remain areas of disagreement – but the spirit of cooperation among all parties is an encouraging sign: we are unified in our commitment to improve health care for all Illinoisans.

Insurance companies play a critical role in the affordability of health care. In fact, with the costs associated with medical care, it is not an exaggeration to say that insurance companies make health care possible.

No one is more aware of this privileged responsibility than the Illinois Life & Health Insurance Council. As committed partners, we will continue working hard on refining House Bill 5395 in the coming days, weeks and months with the goal being to arrive at legislation that truly improves the accessibility and affordability of health care in Illinois.