Health Insurance: TCSP Investigates a Potential Solution for Technology Advisor Businesses
Could TCSP Help Technology Advisors Address the Rising Cost of Health Insurance?
Ask many Technology Advisor business owners about their biggest challenges, and health insurance may not be the first thing they mention.
But for companies trying to recruit and retain good employees, provide competitive benefits and control operating costs, healthcare can represent a significant—and increasingly difficult—expense.
TCSP is investigating whether an association-based health insurance program could provide Technology Advisors with another option.
We're still in the due-diligence stage.
But we believe the opportunity is worth exploring.
Why Healthcare Matters
Technology Advisor businesses are often relatively small compared with the large corporations they compete against for talent.
That creates a difficult equation.
A Technology Advisor needs talented people to grow, but competitive benefits can be expensive. At the same time, smaller companies may have less purchasing leverage than larger organizations when negotiating health insurance.
The result can be higher costs for employers and employees alike.
TCSP believes there may be strength in numbers.
The Association Advantage
Trade associations have historically explored ways to use the collective purchasing power of their membership to provide benefits that individual businesses may have difficulty obtaining on their own.
Health insurance is one area where that concept may have potential.
By bringing together a sufficient number of participating Technology Advisor companies, TCSP may be able to explore options that could provide:
Potentially more competitive rates
Greater choice of plans
Better benefits
Improved negotiating leverage
An additional recruiting and retention tool for Technology Advisor businesses
But those possibilities need to be tested.
We're Doing the Due Diligence
TCSP is not announcing a health insurance program today.
We're investigating whether such a program can actually deliver meaningful value to our members.
That means evaluating potential structures, providers, participation requirements, pricing, coverage options and regulatory considerations.
We want to understand the answers before we make a commitment.
Most importantly, we don't want to create another association benefit simply because it sounds good on paper.
If TCSP offers a health insurance solution, it needs to solve a real problem for Technology Advisors.
Member Participation Is Critical
One of the most important factors in determining whether an opportunity like this can work is participation.
Insurance providers need enough potential participants to evaluate the opportunity and develop meaningful quotes.
That's why TCSP is talking with members and asking Technology Advisors to let us know if they would be interested in exploring the possibility.
At this stage, expressing interest does not commit a company to purchasing insurance.
It simply helps TCSP determine whether there is sufficient demand to continue the process.
Another Example of TCSP's Mission
This initiative is a good example of TCSP's broader role.
We're not an insurance company.
We're not trying to become one.
Our role is to identify challenges facing Technology Advisors and investigate whether collective action can produce solutions that individual companies might have difficulty creating on their own.
That's part of what Curate and Advocate mean in practice.
We identify an opportunity, investigate it, bring the right parties together and determine whether there's a worthwhile solution.
We're Investigating. We'll Keep You Posted.
There is still work to do before we know whether a TCSP-sponsored health insurance opportunity is viable.
But we believe it's worth investigating.
If you're a Technology Advisor struggling with the cost or availability of employee health insurance, we'd like to hear from you.
Your feedback will help us determine whether this is an initiative worth pursuing.
Sometimes the first step toward solving a problem is simply getting enough people together to ask whether there's a better way.
That's what TCSP is doing.
Stay tuned for updates as our investigation continues.