Budget season is when the benefits question comes back around. You want to give your team something real for 2027. Then you price group health insurance for a staff of part-timers and hourly workers, and the conversation ends before it starts.
For a lot of gym, childcare, and youth-fitness operators, group coverage was never realistic. The premiums, the participation rules, the administration: none of it fits a team that turns over and works variable hours.
The gap most small operators live in
Your staff are often young, hourly, and uninsured or underinsured. They skip care because it's expensive and slow to get. That shows up at work as sick days, distraction, and people leaving for a job that offers a little more.
Offering nothing is the default. Not because owners don't care, but because the only option on the table has always cost more than the business can carry.
A benefit that isn't a group plan
There's a middle option between full group insurance and nothing at all. A flat-price telehealth benefit gives your people 24/7 access to licensed providers for $39 a month per person (partner pricing available), with no group policy to underwrite and no enrollment minimums to hit.
For the owner, it's a known number. No broker, no renewal spike, no HR lift. You decide whether to cover it, split it, or simply offer it at the group rate, and you're done.
Why it fits a budget
- A fixed per-person cost you can forecast, not a premium that jumps every renewal
- Nothing to administer, which matters when you don't have an HR department
- Something to put in a job post that the place down the street doesn't offer
- Care your staff can use the same day, so a minor issue doesn't become a missed shift
Setting it up for 2027
The move is simple. Decide who's eligible, decide how much you'll cover, and tell your team it's there. A benefit people can use in the first week beats a complicated plan they never touch.
For a staff that's never been offered anything, 24/7 access to a provider for the price of a couple of coffees lands as a real raise in everything but name.
Bivvy gives operators a health benefit they can afford to offer and their teams can actually use. That's what it's built for.
Bivvy provides access to licensed providers and is not a substitute for emergency services. Providers are licensed; subscription terms apply.