Humana Waiting On TRICARE Ruling

Louisville-based heath insurer Humana is still waiting on a ruling from the Government Accountability Office is a dispute over a large military contract.The GAO has until late October to respond to Humana's protest, which concerns the Department of Defense's TRICARE insurance plan for active-duty and retired personnel. Director of Legislative and Public Affairs Julie Ice says Humana filed the complaint after losing the contract to the Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group."The protest was basically filed on questions with areas of concern on how they rated the proposals," she says.Ice says the ruling could be appealed."There are avenues you can take should the company choose to do that," she says. "We have not, obviously, made that decision at this point."The protest was filed in July. Humana has held the TRICARE contract for the south since 1996. Last year, it generated about 3.3 billion dollars for the company. It expires in March 2010.