Meridian Health Plan of Illinois is opening an office at 201 E. Adams in downtown Springfield as of Feb. 8.
“The office isn’t public facing, it’s a business office,” said Beverly Tanabe, vice president of marketing and communications. “We do a lot of work and coordination with governmental agencies and different interest groups. It’s important for us to have a presence in Springfield.”
Meridian is a managed care organization that is authorized by the state to provide Medicaid services to the public. The company also has offices in downtown Chicago and Burr Ridge, a Chicago suburb. However, Tanabe noted that Meridian has remote workers spread throughout the state.
“We have three physical offices for employees, but we have care coordinators and different networks of personnel around the state that provide services to our members. We go to our members, they don’t come to us,” she said.
In May 2018, WellCare Health Plans purchased Meridian Health Plan of Illinois and Michigan for $2.5 billion, making it the largest Medicaid providers in those states.
