Everything You Need To Know About PEO Health Insurance

By: Patty Hilger

What things keep you up at night?

As a small business owner or manager, I’m guessing that’s no short list; after all, being responsible for not only your own livelihood but for the livelihoods of your employees is a huge task.

If you’re like most business owners, one of the biggest things you may worry about in relation to your company is the cost of providing health insurance to your employees. In one 2021 report, 55% of small business owners say providing health insurance to their employees is the biggest challenge they face! Outside of salaries and payroll, it’s the biggest cost center for most companies—it’s no wonder health insurance stays on your mind.

And finding affordable health insurance for employees isn’t the only stressor in this area. Employers also have to administer and manage health insurance plans, negotiate with brokers or navigate the marketplace, and plan for the subsequent year’s insurance offerings as well. This takes employees additional time and effort, and costs you money.

What if there was a way to make the whole process of health insurance for your employees easier for everyone involved?

There is! By partnering with a professional employer organization (PEO), you can get access to health insurance options your small business would not be able to procure otherwise.

Here’s how a PEO health insurance partnership works:

1. The PEO selects health insurance options for you.

The PEO acts as the gateway between your small business and the complex (sometimes confusing!) world of health insurance. PEOs like GenesisHR select robust plans from best-in-class health insurance carriers for all their clients—the individual companies, like yours, that partner with PEOs. You then offer those plans to your employees.

Health insurance is just one of many ways PEOs help small businesses like yours. Check out our free guide to learn even more benefits of PEO partnerships.

2. You get access to health policies you otherwise don’t qualify for based on company size.

Because PEOs are considered large employers, they have access to health plans not offered to small businesses. Having these plans may improve your competitiveness in this tight labor market.

3. The PEO manages the plan and helps your employees when needed.

Not only is finding and affording health insurance difficult, but managing it can be as well. Your PEO partner manages the entire carrier relationship on your behalf, so health insurance administration won’t take away precious time from your day. At Genesis HR, we handle renewals, open enrollment, employee education, onboarding, and even advocate for your employees if there’s a claim issue, so you have time to run your company.

4. Your PEO healthcare partner assists you in annual planning for the renewal and open enrollment.

Managing rising health insurance costs, negotiations, annual planning, and budgeting is a full-time job in itself, and for small business leaders trying to do it on their own, it can quickly overtake your time. That’s why PEOs are preferable to the DIY approach for health insurance—PEOs are experienced managers of large group health insurance plans. Similarly, PEOs provide expertise in the annual planning process, which minimizes budgetary surprises, all the while ensuring you have a pulse on how the plan is running and what your employees can expect from their health insurance benefits in the coming year.

Can’t I do all this on my own?

Yes—you could manage your small business’ health insurance on your own. But the better question is: Does doing so make financial sense?

Consider these key differentiators between handling health insurance under a PEO vs. on your own:

On Your Own:

• You have to figure out how you’ll procure insurance—with limited options. Essentially, you have three options for finding health insurance coverage in the small group market: Purchase through a licensed broker, a health insurance carrier, or the open market (called different things in different states). Either way, your small business only has access to certain products and does not have access to many of the more robust insurance plans offered to larger companies.

Want to learn the myriad other ways a PEO can help your small business run more efficiently? Check out our free guide to get the full scoop.

• You have limited-to-no support for education using any of these three DIY options. Brokers may offer limited education, but if you buy directly, there’s no one on the insurance side to help your employees make well-informed decisions. There’s also no advocate. So should an employee have a problem with an insurance claim, etc., they are on their own to navigate the process.
• You have limited insight into how the health insurance plans will change from year to year. You won’t find out what the new plan will cost you and your employees until the time comes to renew and enroll—and you don’t have an advocate to help you plan for increases in the future. This annual change is frustrating to you and to your employees, many of whom view health insurance as the most important benefit you provide.

With a PEO:

• You have access to the PEO health insurance carriers—which means you have better (and more!) options. Under a PEO partnership, small businesses have a huge advantage in finding competitive health insurance plans, because the PEO selects a carrier or carriers. PEOs also have access to more product offerings they can make available to their small business partners. Arguably the products are best in class.
• You don’t have to deal with health insurance administration woes. No more getting fed up thinking, “There’s got to be a better way to do this.” This is it! With a PEO option, you’ll find not only a better product, but an easier way to manage health insurance costs and administration.
• The PEO manages the entire carrier relationship. From the initial policy selection to the annual renewal and open enrollment—all is handled by the PEO.
• You get help planning for annual changes. Generally speaking, PEOs are well-versed at managing a large group health insurance plan. Because health insurance management is such a large part of the PEO solution, it’s important to minimize surprises, and have a pulse on how the plan is running and know what to expect at renewal.
• Your employees will be more satisfied with their options. PEO health insurance benefits add value to your employees’ lives. This benefit is arguably the most important. By partnering with a PEO to offer competitive health insurance coverage, you protect the investment you make in your employees—happy, valued employees are less likely to leave your company in search of other opportunities.

As a small business leader, you know your time and the time of your staff is limited. When you spend it on tedious, complex tasks like health insurance, your entire company’s productivity suffers, and your team’s expertise isn’t being optimized.

That’s why PEOs are a much better option. In the white paper PEOs: Good for Businesses and Their Employees, researchers concluded that “PEOs have a significant positive impact on their clients in a variety of important ways.”

The numbers show that:

• 70% of businesses that partner with PEOs report increased revenues after becoming a PEO client.
• 66% report increased profitability.
• 98% would recommend a PEO to a small business colleague. (We have found this notion to be accurate, since most of our own new business does indeed come from client referrals.)

Now that you know what to look for, it’s time to consider your options. If you’re a small or midsize business and you haven’t yet considered a PEO health insurance plan through GenesisHR, keep reading to find out what it’s all about—and exactly how GenesisHR can help!

GenesisHR’s PEO Group Health Insurance Plan For Small To Midsize Businesses

If you’re a small or midsize business struggling to obtain and manage excellent healthcare benefits for your employees, GenesisHR can help. At GenesisHR, we are proud to have a best in class provider Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts as our healthcare partner. In fact, we are the only PEO in Massachusetts to offer this premier coverage to our clients and their employees throughout the country. With a BCBS Massachusetts plan from GenesisHR, you get to choose one or more health plans that fit your organization’s budget and the needs of your team perfectly.

About BCBS Massachusetts

You’ve almost certainly heard of the BCBS brand, which today serves nearly three million members. For more than 80 years Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts has worked hard to provide access to high-quality, affordable health care for individuals, families, and businesses like yours. BCBS is rated among the nation’s best health plans for member satisfaction and quality.

How The GenesisHR & BCBS Partnership Works For You

As a PEO, GenesisHR provides BCBS coverage with diverse plan options and excellent coverage at multiple price points. We also offer a high level of service that our worksite employers and their employees rave about. We serve you by removing several burdens you’d otherwise have to handle yourself:

• We manage the carrier relationship. While you focus on growing your business, we handle renewals, open enrollment, employee education, onboarding, and even advocate for your employees if there’s a claim issue. Our team will take care of all the contact and communication that needs to occur with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (and all your other benefits partners).
• We make it easier to manage health insurance costs and administration. We stay in contact with all providers to negotiate rates and handle renewals. We also reconcile and pay the monthly invoices.
• We guide you when it’s time for open enrollment and annual changes. We work with BCBS Massachusetts and your company to make sure we’re providing you with the best healthcare benefit options year after year.

Get back to doing the work you were made to do, and let our IRS-Certified PEO remove the burden of health insurance.

GenesisHR is the only PEO in Massachusetts to offer this premier coverage to our employers throughout the country. But our partnership with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts is just one of many HR offerings that allow you to attract and retain the best employees. We also offer the following:

• Group Health, Dental, and Vision
• 401(k) Options
• Life/AD&D
• Long- & Short-Term Disability Coverage
• Employee Assistance Plans (EAP)
• Health Savings Account
• Health Reimbursement Account
• Flexible Spending Programs
• Retail & Entertainment Discount Program
• Integrated Employee Onboarding
• Online, Mobile-Friendly Access To Review/Enroll in Benefit Plans & Offerings

If you’d like to know more about how Genesis HR Solutions might be able to remove the considerable burden of finding and managing health insurance plans off your shoulders, contact us today. We’ll look at your health insurance benefits strategy and discuss how we can work together to offer your employees the highest-quality health plans simply.