The contract of Health Alliance Medical Plans, one of the insurance packages offered to the state’s 250,000 employees, was not renewed last week because it was not one of the five cheapest bids, a state official confirmed Tuesday.

More than one-third of Eastern’s 2,500 employees use Health Alliance, which holds an exclusive relationship with Carle Clinic in Mattoon, said Linda Holloway, assistant director of payroll benefits. The sudden switch is a conflict because it may force some employees to find another doctor who is unfamiliar with their medical history.

“With Health Alliance, workers have chosen doctors they feel comfortable with and like to go to,” Holloway said. “By not having Health Alliance, they’ll have to go to another coverage and they lose their ability to go to doctors who know them.”

The state last week decided to renew the contracts of three insurance companies, while dropping three others, Health Alliance, Order of St. Francis and Unicare. It is estimated that some 80,000 state workers are covered under those three plans, according to an e-mail from the University Professionals of Illinois.

The benefits and quality of coverage should remain the same, promised Becky Carroll, a spokeswoman for Central Management Services, the state agency in charge of overseeing the state’s central operations such as health insurance and telecommunications.

The switch came because the state issues proposal requests for health care providers every 10 years.

“Remember, we’re including everyone here, which is well over almost a quarter of a million people in these plans,” Carroll said. “So there will be a small percentage of people whose doctors may not be covered.”

Health Alliance, which Carroll estimated has one-third of its business coming from state employees, responded immediately by filing a grievance to the state, hoping its bid is reconsidered so thousands of state workers can continue using their current medical insurance plans.

On May 15 of every year, state employees declare which of the state’s medical insurance packages they want. The state on Friday renewed the contract of three companies -HMO Illinois, HealthLink Open Access Plan and Personal Care HMO – and added two replacements, John Deere Health Care and United Health Care.

Carroll could neither comment on what could result from Health Alliance’s grievance request nor how long a resolution would take. The grievance is looked at internally by the Central Management System.

“I can’t speculate as to outcome, but that does exist, there has to be a written submission within seven calendar days after this has been posted,” Carroll said.