We Are The Company You Use Before You Use Your Insurance!
Stop filing claims for things that should cost you nothing.
There’s a quiet financial trap most Americans fall into every year — and their health insurance is the one springing it.
You get sick. You need a doctor. So you use your insurance. Makes sense, right?
Except here’s what actually happens: you pay your premium every month, then you see a doctor, and before your insurance covers a single dollar, you have to hit your deductible first. For millions of Americans, that deductible is well over $1,500. Many are staring down $2,000, $3,000, or more.
That’s not a safety net. That’s a toll booth.
At The Part-Time Benefits Company, we were built for this exact moment — the moment before you reach for your insurance card. We’re the company you call first.
The Numbers Your Insurance Company Doesn’t Want You Thinking About
Let’s talk real costs, because this isn’t hypothetical.
The average annual deductible for single coverage is $2,490. For family coverage, it climbs to almost $5,000 for small businesses. That’s according to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s 2024 Employer Health Benefits Survey — and it’s been trending upward for over a decade.
That means every doctor visit, urgent care trip, or prescription you use before hitting that number? You’re paying out of pocket. Full price. No discount. Just you, a billing department, and a number that keeps climbing.
The average ER visit costs $2,200 — and that’s before any treatment. A 2024 report from the Health Care Cost Institute found the median emergency room facility fee alone topped $1,300. Add in physician fees, labs, and imaging, and a “routine” ER trip for something like an ear infection or UTI can easily run $2,000–$3,500. Most of those visits? They didn’t require an ER at all.
62 million Americans visited urgent care last year. The average urgent care visit costs $150–$200 without insurance — and surprisingly, not much less with it, once copays and deductible math kick in. For part-time workers, hourly employees, and the self-employed, that’s a real number. And it adds up fast when you have a family.
The average American spends $1,200+ per year in out-of-pocket healthcare costs — money spent before insurance kicks in, on top of premiums already paid. For workers earning $15–$20/hour, that can represent two to four weeks of take-home pay.
Insurance Was Designed for Catastrophes. We Were Designed for Everything Else.
Health insurance is a financial product built to protect you from catastrophic loss — major surgery, a serious diagnosis, a hospitalization that could bankrupt you. That’s what it does well.
What it doesn’t do well: the everyday stuff.
A sinus infection at midnight. A kid with a fever on a Sunday. A prescription that costs $80 at the pharmacy but $12 with the right discount card. A dental cleaning you’ve been putting off because the copay still stings.
That’s where PTB lives.
Our 7-in-1 Essential Benefit Package was built around one idea: make it so affordable and so easy to access care that you never have to decide between using your benefits and keeping the lights on.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
- $0 telemedicine — board-certified physicians, 24/7, no copay, no deductible, no claim. You pay nothing. Covers 80% of what urgent care handles — sinus infections, UTIs, allergies, pink eye, cold and flu, minor injuries.
- Dental discounts — save 15–50% at over 100,000 providers nationwide through Aetna Dental Access, one of the largest dental networks in the country.
- Vision savings — discounts through VSP and Coast to Coast Vision, two of the most trusted names in vision care.
- Prescription discounts — save up to 80% at the pharmacy through our partnership with WellRx. Many members pay less than their copay.
- Lab testing — direct-pay lab access at a fraction of retail pricing. No insurance required.
- Counseling and EAP — mental health support, employee assistance, confidential access when it matters most.
- Medical Bill Saver — if you do end up with a hospital or medical bill, our Medical Bill Saver program negotiates it down on your behalf. Members have saved thousands on bills they thought they were stuck paying in full.
All of it bundled. All of it accessible within 24–48 hours of enrollment. All starting at $1.99/week.
The Math Is Uncomfortable for Insurance
Let’s run it:
You pay $1.99/week for PTB. That’s $103/year.
The average American without an alternative to insurance uses their deductible as a barrier — skipping care, delaying treatment, or paying full price for something telemedicine could have resolved for free.
A single avoided urgent care visit ($175) covers your PTB membership for nearly two years.
One avoided ER trip ($2,200)? That’s 21 years of PTB coverage.
One avoided specialist visit plus labs ($400)? You’ve paid for four years of membership.
We’re not saying skip your insurance. We’re saying use it less — and use it smarter. Save it for what it was designed for. Use us for everything else.
This Is Especially True for Part-Time and Hourly Workers
Here’s the harder reality: 70% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. A $2,200 ER bill isn’t just inconvenient — it’s devastating. It means missed rent. It means delayed car payments. It means financial stress that doesn’t go away for months.
Part-time workers, gig workers, and hourly employees are disproportionately hit. They’re the ones least likely to have employer-sponsored insurance, most likely to delay care, and most likely to end up in the ER with something that started as something small.
PTB was built specifically for this workforce. For the hotel housekeeper and the restaurant line cook and the retail associate who’s working 32 hours a week and can’t afford the plan on the marketplace but also can’t afford to get sick.
Benefits shouldn’t be a privilege of full-time employment. Every worker deserves access to care. That’s not a political statement — it’s just math.
For Employers, Brokers, and HR: The Benefit That Pays for Itself
If you manage a workforce, advise clients, or run an HR function, you already know the problem. Benefits costs are rising. Participation is dropping. Workers are showing up sick because they can’t afford not to. And you’re stuck offering plans that most of your part-time and hourly population will never actually use.
PTB changes that equation.
For employers:
- Offer meaningful benefits to every employee — full-time, part-time, seasonal, and 1099 — without adding to your insurance spend
- Reduce absenteeism: employees with access to $0 telemedicine get treated faster and miss fewer shifts
- Boost retention: benefits are a top-3 reason hourly workers stay or leave
- No minimum enrollment, no ACA complications, no waiting periods
For brokers:
- Fill the gap in your book for clients who can’t afford to extend traditional coverage to part-time staff
- Add a recurring revenue stream that requires almost no servicing
- Differentiate your practice with a solution your competitors aren’t offering
For HR teams:
- Reduce utilization pressure on your major medical plan
- Give employees a benefit they’ll actually use — and notice
- Improve benefits satisfaction without increasing budget
The Bottom Line
Your insurance is expensive, slow, and designed around a system that profits when you use it less. We’re designed around the opposite — to make sure you use your benefits every single time you need them, at a cost that never makes you think twice.
Think of us as the layer between you and your deductible. The buffer between a $2,200 ER bill and a $0 telemedicine call. The reason you don’t have to choose between taking care of yourself and taking care of your finances.
PTB is the company you use when you don’t want to use your insurance.
Ready to see what your workforce could be saving? Get a free quote at parttimebenefits.com
The Part-Time Benefits Company provides discount health services, not insurance. Our programs work alongside existing insurance or independently, with no waiting periods, no coverage denials, and no claims.
Sources: Kaiser Family Foundation 2024 Employer Health Benefits Survey | Health Care Cost Institute 2024 | CDC National Center for Health Statistics | American Hospital Association 2023 | FAIR Health Consumer Cost Lookup
About the Author
Ricci DeRosa is the Co-Founder of The Part-Time Benefits Company (PTB), bringing over 25 years of experience in employee benefits to one of the most underserved corners of the American workforce. Alongside co-founder Steve Riggs — whose combined industry tenure spans 35+ years — Ricci built PTB on a simple but urgent belief: that access to affordable healthcare shouldn’t depend on how many hours a week you work.
Before launching PTB, Ricci spent decades working alongside brokers, associations, and employers of all sizes, watching the same gap widen year after year — millions of part-time, gig, and hourly workers left out of the benefits conversation entirely. PTB was his answer to that problem.
Today, PTB serves employers across hospitality, retail, food service, and staffing — industries where the workforce is large, the margins are tight, and the need for affordable benefits is greatest. Ricci personally oversees every piece of marketing and broker education PTB produces, ensuring the message stays clear: real benefits, real savings, no insurance required.
Connect with Ricci and learn more at parttimebenefits.com
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