Next year, employee health insurance will cost Bradley County more.

During Monday’s meeting, the Bradley County Commission approved the renewal of the health insurance coverage for county employees by Cigna Health & Life Insurance Company.

Under the renewed plan, health care will continue to be free of charge for individual employees. It also offers four options for additional individual benefits and family coverage. However, the renewal of Cigna’s plan for next year comes with a steep 5% increase in the cost to Bradley County.

That 5% jump in the insurance premium was criticized by Commissioner Scott Gilbert at the commission’s Oct. 27 meeting. He urged the county to do a better job of “shopping around” other insurance companies to find a lower rate.

At this week’s meeting, County Mayor D. Gary Davis responded to that criticism by explaining that Cigna had originally wanted to raise the premium by 19.7%. That huge cost increase prompted him to contact several other insurance companies to request bids. Only two responded, Blue Cross with a 26% increase and Cigna with its 19.7% increase.

Cigna was chosen because it was the “low bidder” in the process.

“Once we decided who was the low bidder, I can negotiate with them,” Davis said. “Over the next two months, many negotiations, conversations and arguments were had with Cigna. There were some heated negotiations to get the 19.7% [rate increase] down …

“To make a long story short, we got it down to 5%, which is not something I’m bragging about, but it’s a hell of a long way from 19.7%. I don’t expect a thank you, but I don’t expect to be told to shop it around. We went through a very long, four-month bid process.”

Davis explained that he did consider “tweaking” the plan to further reduce the 5% premium but that would mean cutting benefits to the employees, which he was not willing to do.

The vote to approve the renewal of the Cigna insurance plan with the 5% increase was not unanimous. Commissioners Gilbert and Milan Blake cast “no” votes.