Galloway Township Pegs Marsh & McLennan Agency as Health Care Brokers

Galloway Township Council unanimously approved Marsh & McLennan as the new health care broker for township employees following an executive session Tuesday night, Nov. 22.

The new broker takes over immediately, and township employees will se no difference in their insurance, Mayor Don Purdy said. 

The council also voted to keep AmeriHealth as their health insurance provider, and voted to end its relationship with broker Buckingham Insurance effective immediately.

"We will work with you to achieve the goals you've set for us," said Mark Senior, regional senior vice president for Marsh & McLennan Agency. "We will provide you with a new level of service, and provide you with long term health care."

"In our private meeting, you said if you don't save us money, we don't have to pay you," Purdy reminded Senior.

"We've had a lot of issues with health care this year. I've had people calling me all year with problems. Credit is a big thing, and with this agreement, that will be taken care of."

Purdy said the relationship with Marsh & McLennan will provide the township with cost savings that wasn't previously available, and Deputy Mayor Tony Coppola referenced Marsh & McLennan as one of the largest broker services in the country and should put the township in a "new bargaining pool."

"They'll help us with some of our old claims. We had bills that weren't getting paid that were going into collections," said Purdy, who stated that employees were taking care of their own bills prior to the agreement being reached with Marsh & McLennan. "Now, our employees can do the work they're supposed to be doing. My CFO can do the job of a CFO and not handling health insurance."

The new broker's approval comes one year after the previous broker was introduced to the township, on Dec. 1, 2010. The agreement with Marsh & McLennan is in effect until November 2012.