KHI NEWS SERVICE
TOPEKA, May 30
The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will not renew a lucrative contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas, the company has announced.
The decision will cost the state”s largest health insurance company about 350 jobs, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported on Wednesday.
Currently, a BCBS of Kansas subsidiary, Wheatlands Administrative Services, handles Medicare claims for physicians in Kansas, Nebraska and part of Missouri. The company was hoping to win an expanded, five-year contract that would resulted in all Missouri and Iowa claims being processed here. But CMS officials recently informed the company its bid was “not in the competitive range.”
Local and state governments had provided about $3 million in incentives to help BCBS win the new contract.
“I”m very disappointed that BCBS has been eliminated from this contract,” Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said.
Graham Bailey, a spokesman for BCBS, said, “We feel that we submitted a competitive bid and certainly appreciate the assistance that local and state entities offered to us as we prepared our bid.”
The loss of the contract is expected to force the company to cut 335 jobs in Topeka and another 15 in Salina.