Town of Greeneville employees will have a new health insurance provider after action taken Monday afternoon in a called meeting of the Greeneville Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

The board voted to authorize Mayor Laraine King or her designee to negotiate a new contract with Trinity Benefit Advisors (TBA) of Knoxville with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee as the third party administrator.

In a workshop Monday morning, the board heard presentations from representatives of TBA and the town's current broker, Bird Isbell & Associates of Greeneville, the top two of 18 proposals.

Speaking for Bird Isbell were Jim Bird and Bill Isbell.

Speaking for TBA were Chris Poynter and Drew Mann.

TBA's proposal was recommended by HealthCare 21 Business Coalition of Knoxville, which worked with the town to review the proposals.

According to a letter from Darrell Douglas, HealthCare 21's vice president of purchaser services and marketing, TBC's proposal would cost $405,219 for 14 months, compared with a cost of $447,790 in the Bird Isbell proposal, which also included coverage by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee.

The town's current health insurance package, with Corporate Systems Administration as the third party administrator, expires at midnight Oct. 31.

Mayor King noted that employees will not see a change in their benefits with the new package.

The letter from Douglas said, "The discounts the town is receiving from your current third party administrator are not competitive. It appears that your discounts are averaging around 25 percent and declining, and you have proposals that are significantly better than what you're currently getting."

The letter also states, "Your present stop-loss coverage is costing the town about $714,000 per year. This is a non-competitive price to pay for this coverage."

Mayor King presented a bar graph that showed the town's health plan costs increased from nearly $1.5 million in 2003-04 to just over $2.5 million in 2007-08.

"We have to turn this trend around, at least get it stabilized, and work toward reducing our health care costs," Mayor King said.

Alderman W.T. Daniels recommended TBA at an Aug. 19 budget workshop of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen because of what he said was the possibility that it could reduce the town's $2.5 million in health-insurance costs.

Locally, TBA has worked with Forward Air Inc., Landair, MECO Corp. and So-Pak-Co, according to Poynter.

At the Aug. 19 budget workshop, the aldermen asked to hear presentations on health insurance coverage and potential savings.

A subsequent workshop on Sept. 8 included presentations by Poynter and Mann, along with David Grazier of Corporate Systems Administration.

On Monday, Isbell told the board that he thinks there could be a one- or two-day lapse in the availability of prescription coverage, because of the transition.

Poynter said the transition will be seamless with the reinsurance portion of the package taking effect immediately and up to 60 additional days to finalize the rest of the contract.

Any employees who have questions about their health insurance can contact Danelle Sells at Town Hall.

Recorder Jim Warner said the town has a total of 514 insured individuals.

Warner noted that the funds to be saved will not be available for reallocation; they simply will be a reduction in expenses.