Iowa lobbyist: I resisted 'dumb idea' for winning Medicaid contract

Oct. 31--DES MOINES -- A former Iowa House speaker turned lobbyist testified Friday he spoke with executive and legislative officials on behalf of an insurer seeking a deal to help privately manage the state's $4.2 billion Medicaid program, but disputed assertions he and others improperly swayed the procurement so his company got picked.

Christopher Rants, a Republican from Sioux City who served 18 years in the House -- four as its speaker -- was hired by WellCare of Iowa.

At a hearing challenging the process that resulted in WellCare and three other insurers being chosen for the lucrative work, Rants testified Friday he pushed back against an idea from a WellCare executive to identify and influence members of a state evaluation committee.

"I thought it was an inappropriate idea, I thought it was a dumb idea," Rants told an attorney for a competing company that didn't get chosen for the work.

In the email, the WellCare official suggested attempts be made to identify members of a committee evaluating proposals from 11 for-profit companies seeking to land the contracts and influence their decision by "talking up" WellCare.

During the hearing that concluded this week, three insurers are seeking to convince an administrative judge that the process leading up to the largest state procurement in Iowa history was tainted. Four companies were picked to transition the Medicaid program in Iowa -- which includes nearly 600,000 enrollees and 30,000 providers -- from public to private management.

Thursday's proceedings focused on Renee Shulte, a former GOP state representative from Cedar Rapids who also went to work for WellCare. She acknowledged she has contacted a governor's office official during a "blackout period" of the selection process, but maintained her actions did not amount to inappropriate conduct.

Friday, Rants said his work for WellCare focused on policy and budget issues, not the procurement process. Still, he said he pushed an alternative course of winning the contract by developing letters of recommendation to include in the proposal.

But opposing attorneys argued Friday there was no way of knowing whether other WellCare representatives proceeded with an improper lobbying strategy.

Attorneys for the three losing bidders -- Aetna Better Health, Iowa Total Care and Meridian Health Care Plan of Iowa -- are asserting violations of the bidding procedures, improper sharing of "insider" information during a "blackout" period, questionable scoring of the bid proposals and failure by at least one bidder to disclose previous criminal sanctions.

WellCare did not initially disclose violations in managing Medicaid systems in other states that led to criminal convictions and $137.5 million in fines and sanctions.

"We believe the integrity of the procurement has been compromised," Meridian attorney Jim King told administrative law judge Christine Scase, who will make a recommendation in November.

However, Iowa Assistant Attorney General Diane Stahle and attorneys for the winning bidders -- Amerigroup Iowa, AmeriHealth Caritas Iowa, UnitedHealthcare Plan of the River Valley and WellCare Iowa -- said the allegations were not supported by facts at the hearing. They argued they should be allowed to proceed with the transition, set for Jan. 1.

"There's absolutely no showing of prejudice," argued WellCare attorney Robert Highsmith Jr. He said the rejected companies presented a lot of "innuendo, suspicion, rumor and speculation" but no "hard facts."

Nonetheless, four Democratic members of the Iowa House's Oversight Committee said assertions about improper political influence during the procurement caused them to request a Nov. 18 committee meeting to investigate the matter.

They were particularly concerned about emails that show communications between Rants and Shulte and Michael Bousselot -- Gov. Terry Branstad's chief of staff who was his policy director and legal counsel at the time -- while state officials were reviewing the proposals.

"The Oversight Committee has an obligation to make sure there was not any misconduct or improper influence in awarding contracts," said Rep. Ruth Ann Gaines, D-Des Moines.

During his testimony Friday, Rants confirmed he had up to five conversations with the governor's health care policy expert during the a "blackout" period. But he did not deem them improper because none dealt with the bidding process, he said.

The discussions with Bousselot were about the privatization program's workability, rates and finances, Rants testified.

Highsmith, the WellCare attorney, noted that the companies mounting the challenge did not call Bousselot to testify -- relying instead, he said, on an "empty chair strategy" to create an appearance of impropriety.

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