Source check dates: to across 7 source-backed data records
Compare what your employer’s health plans would cost over a year, including premiums, medical bills, account funding and estimated tax savings. Then change the care scenario to see whether the same plan still comes out ahead.
We’ve filled in fictional plans to get you started. Replace them with your own benefits; the tool does not retrieve insurance quotes. For help with the terms, start with our guide to health benefits.
Example plans · enter your own benefits to compare
HSA plan costs about $954 less than Copay plan over the year under these assumptions.
HSA plan: $2,505 · Copay plan: $3,459 per year, after modeled tax savings and employer funding.
2027 individual · 22% federal + 7.65% payroll marginal savings · $2,000 employee HSA contribution in the HSA example · state effects excluded.
Start with your employee premium from the enrollment sheet and the medical rules from the Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC), using the same coverage tier in each plan. Choose a care preset, then open the details to match your copays, spending accounts and tax assumptions before relying on the result.
03
Your care scenario
Use the negotiated price of care before insurance pays its share.
Enter the full negotiated charges before insurance pays. Keep the visits and prescriptions entered below separate so you count them once. The graph changes this other spending while keeping your regular care fixed.
$5,360 total allowed care = $4,000 other care + $1,360 visits and prescriptions. Edit the counts and prices below.
Regular visits, prescriptions and allowed prices
Enter the total visits and prescription fills for everyone covered. We use the same in-network allowed prices across plans to make the benefit rules easier to compare. Replace the example prices with your own estimates, and keep in mind that different negotiated prices could change the result.
Tax and account assumptions
Choose the marginal rates that apply to the dollars you deduct. We use those rates to estimate the tax benefit, without calculating a full return, bracket crossings, credits or investment growth. State effects stay excluded until you select how they apply.
Prepare a comparison for a benefits team
Enter the offered plans, give the comparison a label, and copy the link. Each person can then try their own care and tax assumptions in their browser. The link includes every entered value, so use a general label and leave personal names and medical details out of a team template.
The calculator runs in your browser. If you use Copy link, your inputs become part of the URL fragment and are visible to anyone who receives the link. Read the privacy details.
04
Your comparison
HSA plan costs about $954 less than Copay plan over the year under these assumptions.
Illustrative 2027 individual coverage. Tax assumptions and care counts are editable above.
HSA plan
Estimated annual cost After tax benefits and employer funding
Employee premiums
$1,800
Medical out-of-pocket
$2,832
Estimated tax savings
$1,127
Employer HSA asset / HRA used
$1,000
FSA forfeited / retained
$0 / $0
State tax on employer HSA
$0
Covered in-network household cap $5,000
Early exposure for one person $5,000
Copay plan
Estimated annual cost After tax benefits and employer funding
Employee premiums
$3,240
Medical out-of-pocket
$1,180
Estimated tax savings
$961
Employer HSA asset / HRA used
$0
FSA forfeited / retained
$0 / $0
State tax on employer HSA
$0
Covered in-network household cap $3,500
Early exposure for one person $3,500
Third plan
Estimated annual cost After tax benefits and employer funding
Employee premiums
Pending
Medical out-of-pocket
Pending
Estimated tax savings
Pending
Employer HSA asset / HRA used
Pending
FSA forfeited / retained
Pending
State tax on employer HSA
Pending
Covered in-network household cap Pending
Early exposure for one person Pending
We combine premiums and medical costs with estimated tax savings and employer funding, then account for any modeled FSA forfeiture or state tax on employer HSA deposits. Your own HSA deposit remains your asset. The result can be negative if employer funding and tax savings exceed the expenses in this year’s scenario.
Early exposure shows how much of one person’s covered-care limit remains after available HSA assets, an upfront employer HSA deposit or an available FSA election. It tests the cash you might need before later funding arrives. Premiums and noncovered care are additional.
Where the cost advantage changes
HSA planCopay plan
Approximate cost crossovers in this chart: HSA plan / Copay plan at $13,540; HSA plan / Copay plan at $16,140. Tied ranges can also occur. These points hold the regular care pattern fixed.
Annual economic cost at three spending levels
Other allowed medical spending
HSA plan
Copay plan
Third plan
No additional bills · $0$1,360 including regular care
$1,033
$2,609
Your scenario · $4,000$5,360 including regular care
$2,505
$3,459
High spend · $20,000$21,360 including regular care
$4,673
$5,059
Plan terms behind these results
Term
HSA plan
Copay plan
Third plan
Annual employee premium
$1,800
$3,240
Individual / family deductible
$2,200
$500
Coinsurance after deductible
20%
10%
Individual / family covered-care cap
$5,000
$3,500
Account arrangement
HSA
NONE
Employer HSA / your HSA
$1,000 / $2,000
$0 / $0
FSA election / HRA funding
$0 / $0
$0 / $0
Your employer or your spouse’s?
If both employers offer coverage, try putting everyone on one plan and compare that with each spouse using their own employer’s plan. You can place the children on either plan or split them between the two. This optional comparison uses the plan rules above and tests each way of covering the children.
Replace these fictional tier premiums and care amounts. The employee-only premium and pay frequency come from each plan above. Enter other tier premiums using that same payment frequency. A blank tier means unavailable; $0 means free to the employee.
Enter the care each person expects to use
Enter a separate care estimate for each person here. These amounts replace the main comparison’s care scenario for the household test. Keep visits and prescriptions separate from other allowed care, and leave out fully covered preventive visits. The allowed unit prices and tax assumptions still come from the main tool.
Both adults are assumed to have employer coverage available for the full year. Family deductible and cap fields apply whenever 2+ people enroll, including employee + spouse/children; verify those thresholds match your documents. Catch-up and outside HSA contributions are excluded. Split FSA/HRA reimbursement coordination is outside this model. General-purpose spouse FSAs/HRAs or other coverage may prevent HSA contributions even when you choose no account here; confirm eligibility independently. Networks, drug coverage and exact tax returns are not compared.
Use Copy link, Download comparison CSV or Print / save PDF above to keep your inputs and results. All household inputs stay in your browser unless you share or download them.
Three details that can change which plan costs less
Employer funding and family deductible rules can change the result even when two plans look similar. The fictional examples below use the same model as the calculator, so you can load each one and change it yourself. We’ve set federal, payroll and state tax effects to zero to make the plan differences easier to see. The results illustrate the math rather than average savings or expected medical costs.
Employer HSA funding can reverse the result
Both plans have a $2,200 deductible, 20% coinsurance and a $5,000 individual cap. At $1,000 of care, a $140/month plan costs $480 more than a $100/month plan before employer funding. A $1,000 employer HSA deposit reverses the result: the higher-premium plan costs $520 less. No employee HSA contribution or tax savings are assumed.
Illustration: 2027, individual, $1,000 allowed care
The same family spending can produce different bills
These four-person plans have identical premiums and caps, a $2,200 individual deductible, a $4,400 family deductible and 20% coinsurance. With $4,400 of care concentrated in one person, an embedded deductible produces $2,640 of cost sharing versus $4,400 under the aggregate example. If care is spread evenly across all four people, both produce $4,400. No accounts or tax savings are assumed.
Illustration: 2027, four-person family, $4,400 allowed care
Both examples charge $100/month and leave $200 of covered care to the employee before account funding. A $1,000 employer HSA deposit leaves $800 in the employee’s account after that care. The HRA reimburses the $200 incurred; its unused $800 is not counted as a personal asset. No employee contributions or tax savings are assumed.
If you’re curious how these choices fit into the wider cost of benefits, our premium funding and care-spending graphic shows who pays for coverage and where care spending goes. Those national benchmarks are separate from the fictional plans used here.
Look at the rest of the benefits package, too
Once you’ve compared your medical plans, it’s worth looking at what your employer contributes and what you might pay for separate benefits. We cover those questions in the benefits guide, along with what insurer financial results can tell us about premiums. Each graphic includes its sources and is available to download.
Use the guide’s dental and vision worksheet for those separate elections. This calculator keeps the focus on your medical plans and your inputs; national averages and industry margins do not enter the results.
How the comparison works
We run the same care pattern through every plan so you can see what its rules change. The model applies the deductible, then the relevant copay or coinsurance, while respecting the individual and family limits you enter for covered in-network care. Visits and prescriptions have their own counts and prices. Add the rest of your expected allowed charges under “other medical spending” so the same care is counted once.
For this annual illustration, other medical spending is spread evenly through the year. Visits and prescriptions are allocated across months and processed before other claims in each month. For family coverage, you can concentrate the care in one person or spread it across the household. Your actual claim order, negotiated prices and reimbursement timing may produce a different bill.
Annual economic cost
Employee premiums + modeled medical out-of-pocket costs
− employer HSA funding / HRA reimbursements − estimated tax savings
+ modeled FSA forfeiture + selected state tax on employer HSA deposits.
The account treatment matters here. Your own HSA contribution remains an asset you own, so we don’t count the deposit as a medical expense. An employer HSA deposit adds to your assets even if you don’t spend it this year. An HRA reduces your cost only by the eligible reimbursement the model uses. For an FSA, the model uses funds against medical costs and treats any balance above the permitted carryover you enter as forfeited.
Check what you would need to pay early in the year
A plan can have the lowest annual cost and still require more cash when a large bill arrives. Alongside the annual estimate, we show an early-exposure stress test for one covered person. It starts with the individual covered-care limit and subtracts the HSA assets, upfront employer HSA deposit or available FSA funds you enter. Later deposits and reimbursements may help over the year, but they are not available for this test. Premiums, noncovered care and out-of-network care are additional.
The graph answers a related question: what happens if medical spending is higher or lower than you expected? It changes other deductible-subject allowed spending while keeping your visit counts, prescription fills, prices and account elections fixed. Any point where the cheaper plan changes belongs to that particular care pattern. Change the pattern and the result may move.
Plan rules. The model supports one medical deductible structure, one covered-care limit structure and one rule for each listed service. If your plan has a separate prescription deductible, several network tiers, service-specific caps or complex reimbursement ordering, you’ll need to consider those separately.
Taxes. We apply the marginal rates you enter to eligible amounts. This estimate does not prepare a federal or state return or account for bracket crossings and credits. State effects remain excluded until you select how to treat them.
HSA eligibility. The tool assumes full-year eligibility and checks common contribution and high-deductible-plan thresholds. Other coverage, midyear enrollment changes and exceptions can affect your eligibility. Review IRS Publication 969 alongside your own circumstances.
FSA use. The tool supports verified 2026 limits. It blocks a 2027 FSA estimate until that year’s limits are verified here. Dental and vision expenses, grace periods and employer FSA contributions are outside this model.
Existing account money. An existing HSA balance helps with the early-exposure estimate. It does not reduce the economic cost of new care. Account fees, investment returns and future reimbursements of prior-year expenses are outside the comparison.
We start with employee premiums and modeled medical out-of-pocket costs, subtract employer HSA funding or HRA reimbursements and estimated tax savings, then add modeled FSA forfeiture and any selected state tax on employer HSA deposits. Your own HSA contribution remains your asset, so we do not add the deposit as a healthcare expense.
Does the calculator tell me which insurance plan to choose?
It shows which plan has the lowest modeled cost under the inputs you enter. Use that result alongside your checks of provider networks, prescriptions, covered services and actual negotiated prices. Your preferences and the cash you might need early in the year also matter. Confirm the terms with the plans before enrolling.
Why can the cheaper plan change more than once?
Each plan’s cost changes as spending passes its deductible and approaches its out-of-pocket limit. Because the plans can reach those points at different levels of care, one may cost less at low spending, another in the middle, and the first again at high spending. The graph looks for those switches across the range shown.
Can I compare family plans?
Yes. Enter the individual and family deductibles and out-of-pocket limits, then choose whether care falls mainly on one person or is spread across the family. The model supports the structures shown in the controls. Its monthly claim pattern is illustrative, so actual timing and the mix of services can change when your family reaches a threshold.
Can I compare my employer’s plans with my spouse’s?
Yes. Turn on the optional two-employer comparison and enter each plan’s employee-plus-spouse, employee-plus-children and family premiums. The tool compares everyone together with each working spouse on their own employer plan, testing each allocation of the children. It checks spouse surcharges, exclusions and shared family HSA limits. Split FSA/HRA coordination, catch-up contributions and outside HSA contributions are outside this household model.
Are 2027 FSA savings included?
The tool supports verified 2027 HSA limits, but its 2027 FSA contribution and carryover limits remain unavailable. It therefore blocks a 2027 FSA estimate until those figures are verified here. You can model an FSA for 2026. We keep the year-specific limits separate so a projection cannot silently become part of your estimate.
Educational estimates under stated assumptions. Review plan documents and eligibility before enrollment. Methodology · Report a correction.