Insurance Department Budget Ensures continuation of essential services

SPRINGFIELD -- Governor George H. Ryan today proposed a Fiscal Year 2002 budget of $33.6 million for the Illinois Department of Insurance including programs that protect consumers.

Less than 1.5 percent of the total amount proposed would come from the state's General Revenue Fund. The appropriation includes $31.9 million from fees paid by the insurance industry to fund the Department's financial solvency and consumer protection programs; $560,800 from public pension regulation fees and $492,600 from general revenues to oversee public pension funds for local government employees and suburban and downstate police and firefighters; and a $700,000 federal grant for the Senior Health Insurance Program.

"This appropriation will enable the Department of Insurance to continue the proper level of supervision over the insurance industry in Illinois," Gov. Ryan said. "With over 1900 insurance companies licensed in Illinois, regulation of both their financial condition and market performance is vital to the state's economy and to the welfare of thousands of consumers who depend on Illinois companies to insure their homes, businesses, vehicles, health care and lives."

Insurance Director Nat Shapo said the budget proposal would preserve the resources necessary to carry out the agency's regulatory mission without sacrificing direct services to Illinois policyholders.

"We will continue to foster consumer assistance and education programs such as complaint investigations, the Senior Health Insurance Program which provides free insurance counseling to Medicare beneficiaries and their caregivers, and the Office of Consumer Health Insurance which has already responded to nearly 11,000 inquiries in its first year of operation," Shapo said.