buoy CHAMP

How Buoy CHAMP works, behind the scenes and in payroll.

Buoy maps CHAMP into your existing payroll. Employees complete a quick task each month. Tax lines go down and take-home pay often goes up, without raising gross wages.

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How the CHAMP Plan works: compliance, savings and care.

The process

How Buoy CHAMP works behind the scenes.

01
Plan setup
Buoy maps CHAMP directly into your existing payroll structure, working cleanly alongside your current employee benefits.
02
Monthly engagement
Each month, employees complete a quick task, such as watching a short video in the CHAMP Plan app (iOS and Google Play) or using a covered service, such as a doctor visit, urgent care, prescriptions or preventive care.
03
Care and pay impact
That quick monthly routine unlocks the plan's claims payment, providing everyday healthcare funds and improving take-home pay without requiring you to raise gross wages.

Engagement

A built-in cushion if someone misses a month.

Employees need to engage with CHAMP each month to unlock their claims payment. If an employee misses a month, there is a 30-day grace period and a way to catch up.

Engagement is designed to be easy: CHAMP includes short activities and CPT-coded touchpoints throughout the month, in its communications and emails. There is never a debit without a matching credit.

Payroll impact

How Buoy CHAMP works in payroll.

A side-by-side look at the Section 125 structure: lower tax lines, higher take-home pay. Illustrative example: actual figures depend on wage, state and benefit elections.

Need	With CHAMP	Without CHAMP
Gross wages	$5,000.00 ($31.25 for 160 hours)	$5,000.00 ($31.25 for 160 hours)
FICA Medicare tax	$55.10	$72.50
FICA Social Security tax	$235.60	$310.00
Federal tax	$313.92	$515.63
State income tax	$102.60	$135.00
CHAMP Plan premium	$120.00	None
Taxable income	Reduced by $1,200, lowering overall tax liability.	No reduction applied. Full federal, state and FICA taxes are deducted.
Benefits and credits	Includes a $1,130 wellness credit (post-tax) and a $120 program premium.	$0. No wellness credits or offsets applied.
Net pay	$4,104.68	$3,968.68

How it's funded

Built-in Section 125 tax efficiency.

Built-in Section 125 tax efficiency lowers payroll tax exposure, saving your business money while often increasing employee take-home pay.

A Section 125 plan, also called a cafeteria plan, is an IRS-approved benefit structure that lets employees pay for certain benefits with pretax dollars. In CHAMP, it is what makes the tax savings possible: taxable wages go down, which lowers payroll taxes for employers and can increase take-home pay for employees.

Buoy CHAMP is a Minimum Essential Coverage plan offered under a Section 125 arrangement. It is not major medical coverage and it is not a replacement for a major medical plan.

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