Humana Military and Health Net Federal Services are the big winners in the bid for Tricare contracts worth potentially $57 billion to manage the military health program over the next five years, the Defense Department announced Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UnitedHealthcare, the nation’s largest single health care company and official manager of the\u00a0Tricare West Region since 2012, finds itself without a seat at the table in a pared-down version of Tricare administration for\u00a0reasons not explained by the Pentagon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the contract announcement Thursday, Humana, which now manages the Tricare South region, will assume the contract for the new Tricare East region, which encompasses 29 states and parts of three\u00a0states and the District of Columbia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That contract has an up-front value of $67.5 million with an estimate of $40.5 billion for the duration of the contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Health Net Federal Services, which manages the Tricare North Region, was awarded the contract for Tricare West Region, valued at more than $49 million in the initial phase and up to $17.7 billion over the five-year contract period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
The West Region includes 18\u00a0states and portions of three states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Defense Health Agency has cut the number of Tricare regions from three to two in a cost-savings measure designed to streamline management oversight and cut administrative costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the bidding process, companies were allowed to bid for both regions but could win only one contract and no single company would be selected to manage both regions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
The tightly held contract announcement\u00a0came as a surprise for those monitoring what is one of the largest spending contracts awarded\u00a0by the Pentagon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Historically, the Tricare contract award has been a tumultuous decision, with the last contract award process started in\u00a0July 2009. The Tricare\u00a0North region contract was given to Aetna, the South region contract was awarded to UnitedHealth Military & Veterans Services and the West region went\u00a0to TriWest Healthcare Alliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But HealthNet Federal Services, which originally held the North region contract, protested and eventually won the contract for that region while Humana, which held the South region, also protested and won back the contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n