Some Medicare Advantage plans come with additional benefits, like flex cards, that can pay for over-the-counter medications, eligible groceries, and out-of-pocket medical expenses. Depending on your policy, Humana Medicare Advantage plans can include a Spending Account Card that offers a “Healthy Options” allowance, “OTC” allowance, and/or “Flex” allowance. We’ll go over each of these allowances and the benefits they come with for Humana Medicare Advantage plan holders.
Flex cards are a common benefit offered by some Medicare Advantage. Humana’s Spending Account Card is a payment card that acts just like a debit card and allows beneficiaries to pay for certain goods and medical expenses. It offers three different kinds of allowances, depending on your plan. The flex benefit card can have different allowances for goods and services. Your plan will determine which allowances you have, and the spending allowances are automatically loaded onto your card.
Below we dive into three types of spending allowances.
If your plan includes the “Healthy Options” allowance, your Humana Spending Account card can be used to pay for over-the-counter health and wellness products, utilities, rent, pet supplies, and other eligible goods and services at participating retailers.
To be eligible for the Healthy Options allowance, you must be enrolled in the following Humana Medicare Advantage plans:
Here are specific examples of what a Healthy Options allowance can help pay for:
If you have an OTC allowance as part of your benefits for a Humana Medicare Advantage plan, you can use your Spending Account Card towards over-the-counter medicine, vitamins, first-aid supplies, incontinence supplies, and oral care. Depending on your plan, you’ll receive either a monthly or quarterly amount pre-loaded onto your account card to spend on OTC products.
There are two types of OTC benefits you can get: OTC Mail Order or OTC allowance. OTC Mail Order benefits can only be used at the CenterWell Pharmacy online—this is Humana’s online pharmacy. The OTC allowance benefit is a dollar amount that is loaded onto your Humana Spending Account Card.You can use this allowance at participating retailers in addition to CenterWell.
Here are specific examples of what an OTC allowance can help pay for:
The Flex allowance benefit is a monthly or quarterly spending amount allotted for your plan’s covered dental, vision, or hearing services. With a Flex allowance, you can use your Spending Account Card for out-of-pocket healthcare costs, like copays and coinsurance.
Important note:
Because the Flex allowance can only be used toward costs associated with your specific Medicare Advantage plan, you’ll have to submit a claim to Humana before you can use the flex benefit.
Once you activate your Humana Spending Account Card, you can use it to purchase goods and over-the-counter medications at participating retailers, grocery stores, and pharmacies. Not all places accept payment from the Humana allowance programs. You can check the Humana Store Finder to see which shops will accept the card in your area. Three notes about using your card:
If you need to check your account balance, you can do so by logging into your online Humana account.
Keep in mind that the amount of money you get from your Medicare Advantage plan for the Spending Account Card may vary from one plan to another. Read your plan details closely or get in touch with Humana or a Chapter representative to make sure you understand what you can pay for and how much your Humana flex card allowance is.
Flex cards, including the Humana Spending Account Card, can help you save on health and wellness needs, including over-the-counter goods, prescriptions, and copays for healthcare services. Unfortunately, Medicare beneficiaries only use about 30% of their over-the-counter/flex benefits. This is because the benefits can be difficult to understand, especially since flex card rules vary between insurance companies and between Medicare Advantage plans.
Chapter makes it easy to use your Humana OTC benefits. Don’t leave money on the table, and sign up with the Chapter app today to claim your OTC benefits. Get started here.
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