In fiscal year 2010-11, North Haven paid Anthem Blue Cross a 28 percent increase for town employee health insurance coverage. A year later, the municipality will receive a cost decrease, but from which carrier remains unknown.

Anthem Blue Cross has offered North Haven a two percent decrease for fiscal year 2011-12 coverage, First Selectman and Republican Michael Freda confirmed Tuesday. Included within the offer is a four percent rate cap on next year’s administrative fees, which would help limit pricing for a fiscal year 2012-13 contract.

“If you look at this quote compared to quotes given to surrounding municipalities, this is one of the finest quotes in the area,” Freda said. “I hope this addresses the concerns of some Board of Finance (BOF) members.”

Anthem’s proposed reduction springs from fewer expense costs on North Haven’s health care claims history. “Some of the larger claims history months have fallen off from last year because carriers do claims analysis by looking at 13 months of claims history,” Freda said.

At recent BOF meetings, members have debated whether to retain Anthem — who then had guaranteed only a zero or two percent increase — or put health insurance coverage out to bid for other carriers.

“What we are deciding now is whether we still want to go out to bid,” Freda said. “I’m leaning toward it, but I want to talk to other members of the Board of Finance first.”

Putting North Haven’s contract out to bid could risk the loss of Anthem’s assurances.

Democratic BOF members Michael Hallahan and William Kohlhepp served with Freda in a committee which worked with North Haven’s insurance agents in health care negotiations for the upcoming fiscal year.

“The offer from Anthem is significant, meaningful and beneficial to North Haven,” Hallahan said Wednesday. “I certainly agree with the feeling of all taxpayers that any reduction to any major line item, such as health care, is very critical.”

Dating back to last year and Anthem’s 28 percent increase, Hallahan has outspokenly backed putting health care out to bid. “I’m still pushing to solicit other providers for their interest in making a competitive offer,” he said. “We’ve worked very hard over the last year or two to dissect and analyze the procurement of health care in order to take advantage of any savings from Anthem or other carriers.”

“The direction I’m going on is still to evaluate whether competitors can improve upon the offer put on the table by Anthem,” he added.

Some have suggested that North Haven ask Anthem and competitors for sealed bids. However, as such action could lead to a retraction of Anthem’s two percent decrease, Hallahan was not in favor. “Since we want to keep negotiations with Anthem and competitors open, the sealed bid process might not serve the town well while we’re still working with Anthem,” he said.

While Hallahan took Anthem’s two percent decrease as positive news, he did not forget such developments come after North Haven paid the health insurance carrier a 28 percent increase. “All this is against the background of what occurred last year,” he said. “We believe that since our claims have been greatly reduced, we deserve an offer that is similar to what Anthem has given us.”