The moment of truth is set for Tuesday, reports USA Today. The California Public Employees Retirement System backed by the California State Teachers Retirement System is pushing the plan to allow investors a much bigger say in the slates of candidates for the board.

UnitedHealth’s former CEO William McGuire became the poster boy for the options backdating scandal and Calpers officials say outside nomination and election of directors would prevent a culture of "unaccountability" that allowed former directors to rubber stamp billion dollar options grants to McGuire.

The debate between the activist fund and the incumbent management has followed well-worn ruts. The company responded that the Calpers proposal would only bring special interests to the board that would harm the company. Hmmm. The problem is that boards of apparently thriving companies, as UnitedHealth is, have little incentive to rock the boat and management can do well but also do wrong at the same time. That’s what the backdating scandal is about.

On the local front, the Review-Journal reports that all is well with UnitedHealth’s $2.6 billion buyout of Sierra Health Services. "UnitedHealth is good at this (mergers and acquisitions)," Owner and Publisher of The M&A Researcher David Trout tells the paper. "They have the resources, the legal staff and the experience. They know how to get through these kinds of situations, and they will get through it if they want to."

Doctors are still fighting the buyout, which they see as making their reimbursements even smaller and future negotiations even tougher. When the deal was announced, Sierra VP for Public and Investor Relations Paul O’Neill told the Business Press that UnitedHealth was particularly attracted to Sierra’s business model which includes providing its own medical services as well as insurance. That’s another tool to drive down reimbursements.