On February 25, 2025, Health Alliance announced they would be closing their commercial insurance activities at the end of calendar year 2025. Illinois Department of Central Management Services (“CMS”) will terminate its relationship with Health Alliance effective July 1, 2025. If you are a current UIUC employee who uses the Health Alliance plan as your medical insurance provider, these events affect you.
What Does This Mean for You?
If you are not on the Health Alliance plan currently, and you’re happy with your past selection, no need to keep reading. This doesn’t apply to you!
If you are a Health Alliance plan member, your current coverage will remain in effect until June 30, 2025. You cannot switch until open enrollment.
During open enrollment you MUST log into MyBenefits to elect a new health plan or opt out of the State of Illinois coverage. The annual Benefit Choice open enrollment period will be May 1, 2025 – June 2, 2025.
Make sure to review your Benefit Choice materials that you receive in April.
The Bluestem Take
The cessation of Health Alliance’s business is unfortunate. It was a locally-based option (for those of us in C-U) for which there were locally-based personnel and customer help. My experience with the coverage was favorable while my family and I were enrolled in it. That said, coverage outside of the C-U area was not as good or not covered so if you wanted treatment outside of Carle or Christie it was less favorable.
Instead, my family is now enrolled in the Aetna OAP. It offers more flexible coverage outside of the C-U area, and deductibles, premiums, and out of pocket maximums are all reasonable for in network coverage. We have not had any issues with local doctors not being in-network, and it has covered the treatments and procedures my family has had quite well.
Health plans are certainly not one-size fits all, but if you were enrolled in the Health Alliance HMO and are local to C-U, then the Aetna OAP would be worth investigating.
Other resources
Health Alliance Termination Frequently Asked Questions.
UIUC Benefit Program Booklets – good high-level summary of the benefits of various health plans offered by UIUC.
Summary of benefits – information on the intricacies of each individual plan.