HMO REOPENS BIDDING; WELLPOINT MAKES COLORADO OFFER.Byline: Jason Takenouchi Staff Writer Managed care specialist WellPoint Health Networks Inc. submitted a $266 million bid Thursday for one of Colorado's largest health plans, the Rocky Mountain Hospital and Medical Service. Rocky Mountain, a nonprofit A corporation or an association that conducts business for the benefit of the general public without shareholders and without a profit motive. Nonprofits are also called not-for-profit corporations. Nonprofit corporations are created according to state law. with 500,000 members, runs Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Colorado and Nevada. Thousand Oaks-based WellPoint lost a previous bid for the service to Anthem anthem [ultimately from antiphon], short nonliturgical choral composition used in Protestant services, usually accompanied and having an English text. The term is used in a broader sense for "national anthems" and for the Latin motets still used occasionally in Inc. in March but protested because it said it did not have time to process its bid. After Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar Kenneth Lee Salazar (born March 2, 1955) is an American politician, rancher, and environmentalist from the U.S. state of Colorado. Salazar, a Democrat, served as state Attorney General before winning a U.S. Senate seat in the 2004 Senate elections. He has been the junior U.S. pressured Rocky Mountain to reopen re·o·pen tr. & intr.v. re·o·pened, re·o·pen·ing, re·o·pens 1. To open or be opened again: Officials reopened the airport after the snow was cleared. Schools reopen in September. the process, the company announced that negotiations had always been open to other groups - despite a definitive agreement it signed with Anthem - and told WellPoint and other that they could submit new bids. WellPoint, parent company of Blue Cross of California, is the only company that has submitted a new bid, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Rocky Mountain. That new offer came just before Rocky Mountain was to file with the state for conversion from a nonprofit to a for-profit corporation A for-profit corporation is a corporation that is intended to operate a business which will return a profit to the owners. A for-profit corporation, depending on the jurisdiction to which it is incorporated, may be operated either as a stock corporation or as a non-stock . ``We had planned to file that tomorrow, but we have that process on hold until we figure out what's in this material from Wellpoint,'' said Rocky Mountain spokesman Neil Westergaard. WellPoint spokesman Peter O'Neill Peter O'Neill was an Irish soccer player who played in the League of Ireland during the 1940s. O'Neill played for the Bohemian Minors (i.e. schoolboys/youth team) of the early 1940s. said his company is pleased the bidding was reopened. But he said there are still concerns that Anthem, which has operated the plan since winning the initial bid in March, has a stronger position now. ``We do feel that provides them somewhat of an unfair advantage,'' O'Neill said. Under its proposal, WellPoint would pay $100 million directly to the health plan, pay a $6 million break-up fee to Anthem and give Anthem up to $10 million for the last few months of administrative services. The offer also includes a guaranteed $150 million payment to create a charitable foundation, a requirement when a nonprofit health plan converts to a for-profit concern. Anthem's endowment offer is ``at least $140 million,'' according to Westergaard. |
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