When an employer offers more than one medical, dental, or vision plan, they often want to set their contribution based on one specific plan. That plan becomes the base option. Every other plan—whether it’s richer or leaner—becomes a buy-up or buy-down option, and the employee pays the difference.

Plansight’s modeler supports this setup through the Plan Option-Based setting.

How It Works

1. In the modeler, set Proposed Option to All Options.
   This tells Plansight you’re applying the contribution across every plan in the set.
2. Under Plan Option Based, choose the plan number you want to designate as the base plan.
   This is the plan that the employer’s contribution will be calculated from.

In the screenshot, Plan Option 2 is selected as the base. That means:

• The employer contributes the same dollar amount (or percentage) no matter which plan the employee chooses.
• The employer’s cost is tied to the base plan—not to the richer or more expensive options.
• If an employee selects a more expensive option, the employee simply pays the difference above the base.

Why This Matters

This setup is extremely common. Employers usually want a predictable, stable contribution strategy. By basing their contribution on one plan:

• The employer cost stays the same across all options.
• Employees who choose richer plans pay the buy-up.
• Employees who choose leaner plans may pay less or nothing, depending on the employer strategy.

Contribution Types Still Apply

No matter how the employer contributes, the logic stays consistent. You can use:

• Percentage by tier
• Percentage by employee/dependent
• Flat defined contribution

All of them work the same way:

Apply the employer’s contribution to the base plan, then let the employee pay the rest based on their chosen option.