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Tuesday, May 25, 2004
Dirigo bid prospects shrouded
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AUGUSTA — Insurers had to disclose Monday whether they intend to submit bids to provide coverage through Maine's Dirigo Health program, but the deadline passed with the state staying silent on which companies are in competition. Officials also would not disclose how many companies - if any - are interested in staying in the bidding process. Dirigo is Maine's program to make health care accessible to the state's 138,000 uninsured residents by 2009. The program was envisioned by the Maine Legislature as a state-private partnership. Insurance companies had until the end of Monday to say whether they intend to submit a bid to provide coverage through Dirigo. But state officials said as the deadline drew toward a close that state procurement standards prevent them from discussing which companies are in or out. They said the rule is to keep the process competitive and make sure the state gets the best bid it can. Both Trish Riley, director of the Governor's Office of Health Policy and Finance, and Tom Dunne, executive director of Dirigo Health, declined to discuss which, if any, companies remained in the running. But Riley said she was "encouraged" by a bidders' conference last Tuesday in which five companies participated. They included Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine, Cigna, Aetna, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and United Health Care. At least one of them, Harvard Pilgrim, dropped out and did not submit a bid, Maine Public Radio reported Monday. The final bids are due on June 11, when the names of the bidders will be released by the state. If the bids aren't acceptable or there are none, then the state will approach the Legislature about creating a nonprofit insurance agency as a last resort. But that did not appear to be the direction the state was headed in Monday. "I think a number of carriers are looking at it and that's good," Dunne said before Monday's deadline fell. Dirigo is widely regarded as the nation's most far-reaching state health-care access program.
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