The Brownsville Independent School District will be meeting tomorrow to award third party administration services for their self-funded health insurance plan. The current TPA is HealthSmart which has everything to lose and nothing to gain from the BISD request for proposal process.
Rising medical costs to the school district is the driving factor to change TPA’s it seems. But that makes no sense at all since a TPA simply administers claims and have nothing at all to do with setting medical provider reimbursements. Could the proposed change have anything to do with a new Board of Trustees elected last fall?
If the BISD is concerned about rising medical cost, they should directly negotiate with area hospitals and doctors as did the Tyler Independent School District four years ago. Their costs dropped over 40% the first year, and Tyler has not had to reduce benefits or increase plan funding since.
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