Blue Shield has had the contract for a number of years and
CalPERS has now taken bids with the idea of offering more than just one plan. Anthem Blue Cross, UnitedHealth Group Inc., Health Net Inc. and Sharp Health Plan have submitted bids along with Blue Shield and are the top runners; however CalPERS was not happy with the bid from Aetna and GEMCare. They said Aetna’s bid was inferior.
The decision is up to the board to determine who will win the awards. Blue Shield though is trying to remain in place and and asking the agency to end the bidding process and I probably would too since CalPERS is the 3rd largerst purchaser of healthcare in the US. The big issue and decision I would think for the board is the disruption for participants as you can read they all didn’t want all of the contract and bid on specific areas…so is this a money saving bid? BD
Blue Shield of California may be losing its longtime grip on one of the healthcare industry's most coveted insurance contracts.
Officials at the California Public Employees' Retirement System are recommending breaking up Blue Shield's current statewide HMO contract and replacing it with as many as four health plans for more than 400,000 public workers and their families.
The CalPERS board of administration will consider its staff's recommendation next week and decide among seven companies that submitted bids. Once the winners are picked, CalPERS and the insurers will negotiate rates.
Kaiser Permanente has a separate HMO contract that's not part of this bidding, and CalPERS plans to renew it later this year.
Two companies, Blue Shield and Anthem, submitted bids that meet that 33-county requirement. UnitedHealth, the nation's largest health insurer, bid for 21 counties across the state, and Health Net proposed an HMO for six Southern California counties, according to CalPERS. Sharp Health Plan is seeking a contract for San Diego County.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-calpers-hmo-bidding-20130411,0,4343843.story
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