January 19th 2024
By Ari Parker
Discover how Humana flex cards, called a Spending Account Card, can make managing expenses easier. Learn about the different types of allowances and where you can use your benefits.
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.
Humana flex cards are called Spending Account Cards. These cards can be loaded with money, or allowances, on a quarterly or monthly basis depending on your Medicare Advantage plan.
Humana offers three different allowance types: Healthy Options allowance, OTC allowance, and/or Flex allowance.
The Health Options allowance provides a spending amount through the card on eligible groceries, over-the-counter items, utilities, rent, and other household goods.
The OTC allowance provides a spending amount for over-the-counter medicine, vitamins, first-aid supplies, and more.
You can use a Flex allowance toward your Medicare Advantage plan’s covered dental, vision, or hearing services.
Some Medicare Advantage plans can make it difficult to track your flex credits. Use Chapter’s free OTC benefits app to find and claim flex money from your plan before it expires.
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:
100% of Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans (for those on Medicare and Medicaid)
Certain Chronic Condition Special Needs Plans (designed for those with chronic health problems)
Other non-Special Needs Humana Medicare Advantage plans may also be eligible
Here are specific examples of what a Healthy Options allowance can help pay for:
Groceries: approved produce, beverages, dairy, meat, frozen and prepared foods, bakery items
Home and personal supplies: toilet paper, paper towels, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, cleaning supplies, fans, space heaters, air conditioners
Over-the-counter: allergy, cold and flu medicine, vitamins and supplements, first aid, pain relief, digest health products
Pet supplies: pet food, pet toys, kitty litter, flea shampoo
Utilities, rent, and mortgage: rent/mortgage payments, home phone and internet service, electric, home heating, and water/sewage bills
Non-medical transportation: taxis, ridesharing services, public transportation
Assistive devices: grab bars, low-vision aids, reaching aids
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 and you can also shop online with your Humana OTC card.
Here are specific examples of what an OTC allowance can help pay for:
Vitamins and supplements
Pain relievers, cough drops and other OTC medicines
Toothbrushes, toothpaste, denture cream and tablets
Cleansing wipes and bladder control pads
Bandages and first aid supplies
Stomach remedies
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:
Retailers must accept Visa payments in order for you to make the purchase.
It’s important that you check your plan details to ensure that your purchase is eligible for using your Spending Account Card.
If you have Flex allowance as a benefit, you’ll have to submit a claim to cover any service or procedure before using the 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.
