Flexible Benefit Plan

Employee benefit plan that allows the employee to choose among several different benefits offered by the employer. In essence, the employee is provided with the opportunity to make a trade-off by trading one benefit for another that best meets the employee's needs at a particular point in time. Contributions paid into the plan, whether on a contributory or noncontributory basis, can be allocated to satisfy the needs of a particular employee rather than those of the employees as a whole. The result should be a balance between the employee's primary needs and the benefit/cost constraints. Among the personal choices that the employee can make are health care plans (choices in types and amount of coverages), WELLNESS PROGRAM plans, child-care benefits, and LONG-TERM CARE (LTC) PLANS.