State tight-lipped on Dirigo bids

Monday marked the deadline for insurance companies to inform the state if they intend to bid on Gov. John Baldacci’s innovative Dirigo Health insurance product. But, citing the need to “preserve the competitive nature of the bidding process,” the state wouldn’t disclose which companies or how many companies – if any – had responded by the end of the business day.

Dirigo Health Agency director Thomas Dunne said no information will be released about the number of bidders or who they are until bids are opened June 11.

“Our charter is to create a competitive process,” Dunne said. “If you think about it, it’s really not in the state’s competitive best interest to make that information public.”

Some insurers, though, were not so tight-lipped, and three of the five companies that participated in a bidders conference last week said Monday they will not bid. Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Cigna and Aetna will not be submitting bids.

The other two companies that participated in last week’s conference – Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine and Rhode Island-based United Health Care – did not return calls by press time.

Dunne said insurers other than the five that attended the conference have expressed interest, but he declined to identify those companies.

In the event no insurers bid, the state is prepared to establish its own nonprofit agency to provide the coverage. Dunne emphasized, however, that contracting with a private company is the preferred route.

Robert Downs, director of Harvard Pilgrim’s operations in Maine, said his company is focused on providing its existing products and would not undertake the complexities of the Dirigo plan, which relies on a tricky mix of state, federal and private funding to keep costs down.

Cigna spokeswoman Lindsey Shearer said Cigna would focus on “where we know we can bring the most value to Maine” – the large group market, as opposed to Dirigo’s targeted individual and small-group customers.

Wendy Morphew of Aetna said that firm has recently introduced a number of insurance products designed to attract small businesses and that those products “are more in keeping with our strategic plan for Maine.”

The Dirigo Health insurance plan, called DH CareWorks, is expected to begin enrolling individuals and employees of small businesses later this summer. The goal of the plan is to provide coverage to most of Maine’s approximately 135,000 uninsured residents by 2009.

Other aspects of the Dirigo legislation target the high cost of hospitalization in Maine and call for the creation of a statewide plan to guide investment in the health care system while insuring that all residents have access to quality care.