The bids are in, and it looks like an “aggressive” pitch will land Cigna the contract for Hamilton County’s employee health insurance for the sixth year in a row.
County commissioners will consider the insurance contract at their Wednesday agenda session and are scheduled to vote the following week. They got a briefing last week from County Mayor Jim Coppinger and human resources staff on the bids from Cigna and BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee.
“It’s our responsibility to the taxpayers to take the best offer, and Cigna is the best offer financially,” Coppinger said in a later interview.
Health insurance is a roughly $23 million item in Hamilton County’s annual county budget. The county is self-insured, but contracts out the plan administration.
Cigna’s proposal chops $300,000 in administrative costs and projects more than $235,000 in pharmacy cost savings, even while adding money for employee wellness programs.