Sierra loses appeal over insuring military personnel
Monday, Dec. 15, 2003 | 11:09 a.m.
Las Vegas-based Sierra Health Services Inc., the largest health insurer in Nevada, has lost an appeal of its losing bid to provide managed insurance benefits to military personnel in 23 eastern states.
The insurer's subsidiary, Sierra Military Health Services in Baltimore, lost a bid in August to provide managed care support services to about 2.8 million active and retired military personnel and their families through the U.S. Department of Defense's TRICARE program.
Sierra appealed the decision once the contract was awarded to Health Net Federal Services, a subsidiary of Health Net Inc. in California.
"We still believe that our bid was a superior bid to the competitor who was awarded the contract," said Peter O'Neill, Sierra vice president of public and investor relations. "We still believe there were serious factual and material errors in the decision-making process. For example, there were a number of items in our bid that apparently were not clear to the Department of Defense and we did not realize they were not clear. We were not given the opportunity to clarify those items."
Sierra already provides services for about 1.1 million military personnel in 13 eastern states and wanted to expand its contract since it already had infrastructure in place.
The U.S. General Accounting Office denied the combined appeal to reconsider Sierra and Aetna Inc. for the eastern-states contract. Sierra said it will look at possible alternatives including a hearing before the Court of Federal Claims.
O'Neill said the appeal to the GAO is not an uncommon process for any defense contractor denied a contract and Sierra will decide in the next few days what it will do next.
Sierra gained a TRICARE contract in 1998 to provide services such as scheduling medical appointments, making doctor referrals and offering and maintaining health-care plans. The contract it lost would have provided services to the 13 states it served and 10 additional states.
archive
- Most Read
- Discussed
- Most E-mailed
- Wonder drug for men no success story
- CityCenter: One man’s concept of a real city
- Bellfield tolls again for UNLV in 76-71 win over Louisville
- Metro corrections officer remembered for his love of family
- Notebook: UNLV prospect Polee likes what he sees, and hears, at the Mack
- Man, 18, arrested for DUI in crash that kills woman, 24
- Live game blog: Bellfield, UNLV come through late, upset No. 16 Louisville
- Man fatally shot during robbery attempt of woman
- Bishop Gorman crushes Reed to head to state championship
- Pitino doesn’t consider loss to UNLV a total loss
Blogs
The Greene Room
MWC Winners and Losers: Week 13
The Kats Report
If the message is 'rock out,' then KISS is indeed a message band (1 Comment)
Could a savior of shuttered Las Vegas Art Museum be ... Peter Max? (6 Comments)
For Paul Stanley and KISS, rock and roll is not over (6 Comments)
Twenty years ago today, Human Nature took root on the farm (1 Comment)
Robin Leach's Las Vegas Celebrity Watch
Photo Gallery: Donny Osmond’s triumphant return to the Flamingo
The Kats Report
'DWTS' champ Donny Osmond still deft afoot in return to Flamingo (8 Comments)
Calendar »
- 30 Mon
- 1 Tue
- 2 Wed
- 3 Thu
- 4 Fri
-
DJ showdown at Prive
Prive | 10 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
-
Rok Box with Mike Carbonell at Tabu
Tabú Ultralounge | 10 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
-
DJ Riz at Jet
Jet | 10 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
-
Football specials at Diablo's
Diablos Cantina
The Sun
Locally owned and independent for more than 50 years.
Technorati








