CMS announces decision to reopen bidding process
By Sharita Forrest, Assistant Editor 217-244-1072; slforres@illinois.edu
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The Department of Central Management Services announced May 3 that it will reopen the bidding process for health-insurance carriers for the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1, following an outpouring of protests by lawmakers, state employees and other concerned citizens who were upset to learn that Health Alliance Medical Plan would not be offered next year. CMS announced recently its decision not to offer Health Alliance in FY05 after reviewing bids from Health Alliance and other insurance carriers.
CMS officials agreed to conduct the bidding process for FY05 health-insurance carriers again but did not indicate a time frame for that to happen, said James Davito, director of benefits at the Urbana campus Benefits Center. Neither did CMS officials commit to extending the Health Alliance contract for a particular period of time, although some media reported that the contract was being extended for several months, Davito said. CMS officials did say that the recent bidding and selection process had taken six months’ time. However, they said that much of that time was preparatory work that would not need to be repeated, perhaps shortening the time required for a second round of bidding and selection.
Thousands of UI employees and retirees remain in limbo, wondering whether they will be able to remain with their Health Alliance HMO health plan next year. Health Alliance, based in Urbana, provides health-care coverage to about 90,000 state employees, retirees and their families, including about 7,000 faculty and staff members at the three UI campuses. Health Alliance has an exclusive contract with Carle Clinic and Carle Foundation Hospital, Urbana. People affected by the decision to drop Health Alliance rallied outside the state capitol on May 3 prior to a meeting on health-care-benefit selection by the House of Representatives State Government Administration Committee. UI staff attended the committee meeting to provide information and respond to questions about the impact of this action on UI employees. “We have communicated to the state’s Department of Central Management Services that this decision is a concern for many of our employees and for the University of Illinois, and we have encouraged a review by CMS of the decision to drop Health Alliance,” President James J. Stukel said in a May 1 e-mail to the campus. Norman Denzin, chair of the Urbana-Champaign Senate Committee on Faculty Benefits, had urged people to contact Health Alliance, Central Management Services, Gov. Rod Blagojevich and other legislators to voice their concerns in an April 29 e-mail message to faculty and staff members. The UI’s Benefits Centers at the Urbana and Springfield campuses reportedly received lots of calls from people who were upset by the announcement that Health Alliance would be dropped. UI members of Health Alliance will have the plan’s coverage through June 30 but will have to pick another carrier effective July 1, unless the decision to drop Health Alliance is reversed. Alternative health plans for Urbana campus employees would be PersonalCare Insurance of Illinois, Quality Care and HealthLink Open Access plan.
