WEST WARWICK — The School Committee is considering merging its health insurance plan with the town, a move that would mean little to employees, but could save the town thousands of dollars.

The proposed plan was laid out during a joint meeting between the Town Council and School Committee last night and unanimously approved by the Town Council. The School Committee has until Aug. 1 to decide if it wants to join the plan.

“I think we’re headed in the right direction with a consolidation like this,” said Council President Edward A. Giroux. “I think this is what we’ll have to do in the future.”

Here’s why town officials say consolidation makes sense.

Currently, the town and school departments each pay for their own insurance. The town self-insures its 334 employees, which means the town pays for individual claims on top of an administration fee to Blue Cross Blue Shield to process the claims. The School Department, which is fully insured, pays a separate rate that allows for fluctuations in the number of claims, but does not require a processing fee. There are roughly 595 employees on the School Department insurance plan.

By combining claims and switching the School Department over to the self-insured program, the town stands to save upwards of $240,000 the first year, said Scott M. Grove, senior vice president of USI New England, the town’s insurance broker.

For employees, nothing would change, said Joel H. Cooper, president of USI, because the agreement affects workings behind the scenes.

“It’s invisible to an employee,” said Cooper. “They’ll have the same [benefits] card and use it the same way. The only change will be in how the town and schools pay for it.”

And in the money the town gets to keep, said Town Manager Wolfgang Bauer.

The savings come because the consolidation plan changes the way the administration fee the town pays is calculated, he said. Currently, the town pays about 11 percent of each claim that is filed by an employee, Bauer said. That means the dollar amount the town has to pay can fluctuate depending on how costly a service is, though no new work is being required of Blue Cross, Bauer said. Under the new plan, the town would have a fixed per-subscriber, per-month charge that would be around $76.94, Bauer said. Currently, the town pays, on average, $92.85 per claim.

Additionally, the town would get better rates on supplemental insurance it takes out in addition to the Blue Cross plan.

If the School Department doesn’t join the proposed plan, the town will keep its current benefits.

The possibility of stabilizing rates appealed to School Committee Chairman Daniel T. Burns Jr., who said that insurance payments have been wildly unpredictable for the department in recent years.

“If the School Department can make an agreement with the council to get in a static situation where we can know and plan what our contributions would be, it would stabilize things,” said School Committee Chairman Daniel T. Burns Jr.

Though the School Committee still must approve the merger, officials already factored in a projected $400,000 in savings earlier this month as it balanced its $49.8-million budget for the current fiscal year. However, $100,000 is a more realistic savings, Michael R. Petrarca, the schools’ director of administration has said.

The department does not have to take the issue to the unions, Burns said, because the merger will not affect employees’ benefits.

tbuford@projo.com