How Justworks PEO health insurance works
Justworks becomes the co-employer of your team. Employees enroll in health plans Justworks sponsors for its customers, and you pay a monthly PEO fee for each employee on top of the plan premiums. Justworks publishes its PEO tiers and per-employee pricing on its website. Like other PEOs, part of what you pay funds broker and distribution costs built into the bundle.
Justworks also sells payroll without the PEO. That's your exit path: drop co-employment, keep running payroll on Justworks, and move the health plan.
What Justworks does well
- Simple, transparent PEO tiers compared with most PEOs.
- Good payroll and compliance support for teams without an ops hire.
- Large-group plan choices for very small teams.
Where it gets expensive
- The fee scales with headcount. Founders on PEOs typically tell us they pay $50–125 per employee per month in PEO fees. At 30 people, $100 a month is $36,000 a year before anyone sees a doctor.
- Pooled renewals. Your rates move with the PEO's whole book, not your team's experience.
- Fixed menu. You can't change the deductible structure, add direct-contract providers or see your own claims.
So is it worth it?
| Your situation | My take |
|---|---|
| 2–5 people, nobody to run HR | Justworks PEO is worth it |
| 5+ people and growing | Price your own plan; keep Justworks payroll |
| Large renewal coming | Get a quote before you accept it |
| Need richer benefits to hire | Compare deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums, not just premiums |
Keep Justworks payroll, get your own plan
At Prescience, we design and run your company's health plan, from setup and enrollment to claims, compliance and COBRA. What your team gets:
- An effective $0 deductible, so the plan helps from the first visit.
- Simple copays shown before a visit, capped by a low out-of-pocket maximum.
- A broad national PPO network, plus providers we contract with directly.
- 24/7 physician-led care navigation: a care team that finds the right provider, books appointments and explains costs up front.
What your company gets: one monthly cost set in your quote, usually 10–20% below comparable fully insured coverage and fixed before the plan starts, with no admin fees. You keep your payroll provider, and the plan can start mid-year.
We connect to Justworks payroll for deductions and eligibility. For the step-by-step switch, see How do I leave a PEO?
See what your team would pay with Prescience
Answer a few questions about your team and get a quote in about 60 seconds, or talk it through with one of our benefits experts.
