InsureLit wins Rep. Bill Foster’s 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Illinois’s 11th District
Rep. Bill Foster has named Ishaanvi Vemula of Metea Valley High School as the winner of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Illinois’s 11th District. Their app InsureLit is a mobile application designed to make health coverage easy to understand and accessible to everyone, regardless of whether they have insurance or not.
When asked what inspired the creation of InsureLit, Ishaanvi Vemula said, “InsureLit was inspired by the complicated state of today’s healthcare in America, especially for those without insurance. Navigating the healthcare system often can feel overwhelming, with complex terms, unclear coverage rules, and few reliable resources to explain what people are actually entitled to. Many uninsured individuals believe they have no access to care at all, when in reality, they’re often eligible for free clinics, preventive services, or medicaid programs, but there’s no simple way for them to find or understand these options. That lack of awareness made it clear that we need a tool that makes healthcare literacy universal and empowers people to understand their rights, benefits, and options no matter their insurance status.”
The 2025 Congressional App Challenge marked another record-setting year for the program. A total of 394 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives hosted App Challenges in their congressional districts, the highest level of participation in the program’s history. More than 13,800 students from across the country participated, submitting over 4,600 original apps focused on real-world challenges ranging from health and accessibility to education, sustainability, and civic engagement.
The Congressional App Challenge is an official initiative of the U.S. House of Representatives that encourages middle school and high school students to learn to code, explore computer science, and build practical technology solutions for their communities. Each participating Member of Congress selects a winning app from their district, and winning teams are invited to showcase their projects to Members of Congress, staff, and industry leaders at the annual #HouseOfCode celebration on Capitol Hill.
The Challenge is proudly bipartisan and reflects a shared commitment to expanding access to STEM education and preparing the next generation of American innovators for the future workforce. The program is a public-private partnership made possible through funding from the Broadcom Foundation, AWS, Infosys Foundation USA, theCoderSchool, Apple, and others.
The 2026 Congressional App Challenge will launch in May, and eligible students can pre-register for the competition now.