UnitedHealth cries foul on Pentagon contract

Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 8, 2011

In a move designed to rescue billions of dollars in potential administrative and management fees, UnitedHealth Group struck back Monday at a Department of Defense decision to take away a $21.8 billion contract. The Minnetonka-based company filed a protest with the General Accounting Office alleging violations of federal procurement law. The letter triggered a temporary hold on a regional contract to provide healthcare to military veterans and their families through a program called Tricare. The letter was the latest twist in a bitter, high-stakes war that has pitted UnitedHealth, the nation's largest health insurance company by sales, against another health insurance giant, Humana.