BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. – Sullivan County officials decided Monday to change their health insurance provider next year so they can continue to provide the benefit to employees while keeping the burden on taxpayers to a minimum.
The County Commission voted 21-3 to switch its insurance provider from BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee to United Healthcare so it can save about $300,000 next year.
“We’ve just got to make a decision about what is best for everyone involved,” Bristol Commissioner Cathy Armstrong said before voting in favor of the plan Monday.
This year, BlueCross BlueShield charged the county $6.4 million to provide coverage to 1,600 county employees and their family members, said Phil Ketron, a financial consultant who negotiates the county’s health care plans.
Ketron said the county paid 87.2 percent of this cost, about $6.1 million, while its employees paid the rest in premiums deducted from their paychecks every two weeks.
BlueCross offered to extend its coverage to next year at a cost of $6.9 million, he said, which would mean the county would pay an additional $436,654 to keep its insurance coverage the same. Employees would pay an additional $64,000, he said.
United Healthcare offered to provide health insurance next year at an increased cost of $121,000 to the county and $17,000 to the employees, Ketron said. But it would do so while making a few changes to the type of coverage.
Ketron said county employees would have higher prescription drug co-payments as part of the United plan. The plan also covers fewer chiropractors than Blue Cross, which is something Ketron said is important because chiropractors are the second most common type of health care provider seen by county employees and their families.
Commissioners Bart Long and Mark Vance, both of Bristol, and Wayne McConnell, of Kingsport, mentioned these three changes as reasons why they voted against switching plans. All three said they wanted to stay with BlueCross BlueShield.
Also at Monday’s meeting:
- The commission unanimously approved a plan to give Reclaimed Resources about $4 million in tax breaks over the next five years. The company plans to build a waste-to-energy facility at the old American Phoenix building on Vance Tank Road in Bristol. The new facility represents a $157 million investment and would create at least 100 jobs, said Richard Venable, president of the NETWORKS-Sullivan Partnership, an economic development group funded by the county, Bristol, Tenn., Bluff City and Kingsport.
- Going against the wishes of nearby homeowners, commissioners approved a zoning change that would allow a Family Dollar to be built at the intersection of state Route 126 and Old Stagecoach Road in Bristol’s urban growth boundary.
Residents of the Beacon Ridge condominiums development, which sits directly behind the proposed property, spoke against the plan because they worry it would it negatively affect their property values and create more traffic.
But county zoning officials approved the proposed zoning change because it fits in with a large number of other business-related uses already present on that section of the highway.
- The commission rejected a plan to move its monthly meeting time from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The plan’s sponsor, Commissioner John McKamey of Piney Flats, said it would free up parking at the old County Courthouse on meeting days and give the public a chance to attend meetings they normally couldn’t because most work during the day.
But those against the plan cited the sheer length of commission meetings. Monday’s meeting spanned more than four hours, running from 9 a.m. to 2:15 p.m., with a one-hour lunch break.
“We’d be here all night,” said Commissioner Buddy King of Bristol.
gmclean@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2518
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