February 14, 2013

Mayor Emanuel and GoHealth Announce 250 New Jobs In Chicago

Growing Health Care Company Makes Significant Corporate CItizenship Commitments As Well

Mayor's Press Office    312.744.3334

Mayor Emanuel announced today that GoHealth is adding 250 new jobs in Chicago in 2013 as the company nearly doubles in size. GoHealth is a growing health care company that works with health insurance carriers to aid customer enrollment. The company is hiring individuals ranging from executives, to sales and support people, to software engineers with exceptional technical skills.

“GoHealth is a thriving company that has made a strong commitment to Chicago and its talent," said Mayor Emanuel. "I am pleased that the company is growing and contributing to Chicago's leadership in the crucial sector of health IT."

GoHealth has 350 employees currently, having added 100 employees in 2012. Since the company’s founding as Norvax, Inc. in 2001, GoHealth has evolved from an agency technology solution to an outsourced carrier customer enrollment platform, and added a consumer-facing website at www.GoHealthInsurance.com.  The company works with over 100 health insurance carriers and more than 20,000 licensed agents across the United States.

“As we continue to grow the team, our downtown Chicago headquarters remains a strategic advantage for GoHealth,” said Brandon Cruz. “It is critical that we recruit the most talented people in the country, and fortunately, many of them are right in our backyard.  As we expand our software platform for the rapidly changing healthcare market, we look forward to continued growth and success in the Chicago area.”

GoHealth has long been committed to the Chicago area, focused on the effective and efficient distribution of health insurance coverage through the use of technology. GoHealth is currently headquartered in River North, holding two office buildings in the area, with a third location in the Chicago Loop.

GoHealth is also making significant corporate citizenship commitments as part of its growth in Chicago.

The company has agreed to be a part of the City Colleges of Chicago's "College to Careers" program, working in an advisory capacity to provide insight as to the type of training students receive.

Additionally, GoHealth has committed that a portion of the hiring that it does with these 250 jobs will be done in conjunction with Skills for Chicagoland's Future, an organization that works directly with employers to find jobs for unemployed Chicagoans. Mayor Emanuel is a strong proponent of Skills for Chicagoland's Future and GoHealth is the latest company to commit to this effort, which seeks to aggressively lower unemployment in Chicagoland.

Finally, GoHealth will be working with World Business Chicago to explore ways that the Plan for Economic Growth and Jobs can be integrated with the growing health care space. The company will interact directly with the fellows working on the implementation of the plan to determine key areas for the advancement of health care information technology in the city of Chicago as part of the city's overall economic development efforts. The Plan for Economic Growth and Jobs was developed by World Business Chicago at the Mayor's request and is the blueprint for the city's overall economic mission.

“Our GoHealth technology platform continues to play an integral part in shaping the future of the industry given the health reform laws going into effect and the added volume of consumers entering the health insurance market. We look forward to helping individuals and families get the insurance coverage they need in this evolving marketplace,” said Clint Jones, co-founder of GoHealth.

GoHealth received a $50 million minority equity investment, announced in June 2012, from Norwest Equity Partners (NEP), based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

 

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