photo by: District court document

A Shawnee County judge on Friday, Oct. 12, 2018 rejected a challenge to the bidding process the state of Kansas used to award contracts to three insurance companies to manage the state’s $3 billion per year Medicaid system known as KanCare.

TOPEKA – A Shawnee County judge on Friday rejected a challenge to the bidding process the state of Kansas used to award contracts to three insurance companies to manage the state’s $3 billion per year Medicaid system known as KanCare.

Amerigroup Kansas Inc., one of the three current contractors whose agreements with the state expire on Dec. 31, and AmeriHealth Caritas Kansas Inc., another bidder, both filed the challenge after the state rejected their bids for contracts that would take effect Jan. 1.

Instead, the state awarded contracts to the two other current contractors, UnitedHealthcare of the Midwest Inc. and Sunflower State Health Plan, along with a new contractor, Aetna Better Health of Kansas Inc.

The plaintiffs argued that they were treated unfairly during the bidding process, and it sought an injunction to prevent the state from finalizing those contracts and an order for the state to conduct a new bidding process.

In a 126-page opinion released Friday afternoon, however, Shawnee County District Judge Franklin Theis rejected their arguments, saying they had not met their burden of proving they were entitled to an injunction and that issuing such an injunction would cause more disruption to the 400,000 KanCare beneficiaries than it would to the two companies.

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