January 19th 2024
By Ari Parker
Discover how to use your WellCare flex card, including what you can buy, how to check your balance, and where you can use it.
By Ari Parker
We get a lot of questions about Medicare flex cards for seniors because they’re commonly advertised alongside Medicare Advantage plans. A flex card is a pre-loaded card with cash-like benefits offered by some Medicare Advantage insurance plans. Depending on the plan, you may be able to use this card for over-the-counter medications, out-of-pocket healthcare costs, and/or certain household goods.
As of 2024, WellCare’s Flex Card benefit program is now called WellCare Spendables, and it’s available with select WellCare Medicare Advantage plans. In this guide we’ll cover how the benefit works, where you can use the card, and how to check your balance.
WellCare flex cards are now called WellCare Spendables cards. Depending on your plan, these debit cards are pre-loaded on a monthly or quarterly basis.
For non-Special Needs Plans that incorporate the Spendables benefit, you can use your card at eligible retailers and healthcare facilities nationwide to pay for over-the-counter items and/or dental, vision, and hearing services.
For Dual Special Needs Plans that offer the Spendables benefit, you can use your card for all of the above as well as on healthy grocery items and rent/utilities.
The WellCare flex card, called the WellCare Spendables card, is a pre-loaded debit card that you can use on health items and covered services. It’s a benefit that comes with certain WellCare Medicare Advantage plans.
If your plan includes a WellCare Spendables card you can use it towards health items and services. What you can purchase, how much you get for the allowance, and how often you receive the additional dollars varies depending on the plan you have.
Benefits can include:
Allowance for dental services
Allowance for vision and hearing care
Allowance to use for gas
You can expect to receive between $144 and $2,880 per year preloaded on the Spendables Visa debit card. You can also use your card for both in-network and out-of-network providers if you use it for covered dental, vision, and hearing services.
There are a few eligibility requirements and restrictions on how you can use your WellCare Spendables card:
Your plan must offer the benefit. Allowances also vary between plans (see below for details).
You must activate your card before using it.
Your card can’t be used for cosmetic and other non-medical purposes.
Allowances are usually pre-loaded on a monthly or quarterly basis.
You can only use WellCare Spendables where Visa cards are accepted.
WellCare Medicare Advantage plans with Spendables benefits are only available in 37 states. If you're interested in exploring plans with flex card benefits, reach out to talk to one of or licensed Medicare advisors.
What you can buy with your WellCare Spendables card depends on which WellCare plan you have.
Members on Dual Special Needs Plans (D-SNP), people who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, can pay for the following goods and services with a WellCare Spendables card (details vary by plan):
Healthy grocery food items (fruits/vegetables, canned goods, frozen foods, grains, meat/seafood, pantry goods, etc)
Over-the-counter items (pain relievers, cold/flu/allergy medication, oral care, diabetes care, etc)
Rent and utilities
Out-of-pocket expenses for covered dental, vision, or hearing services.
Other Medicare Advantage plans that have a WellCare Spendables benefit may limit what you can pay for with the card. Generally, you can only use the benefit on over-the-counter items, out-of-pocket costs for covered dental, vision, or hearing services, or both.
Check your plan’s details to make sure you know what you can buy and how much money you’ll get every benefit period.
You can only use the card at eligible retailers. There’s a network of 55,000 retailers nationwide that will accept the Spendables debit card including CVS, Publix, Kroger, Walgreens, Walmart, H-Mart, and other major pharmacy, convenience, and grocery stores.
If you’re having trouble finding an eligible retailer, you can log onto the WellCare member portal and use the store locator to find a store near you. You can also use the Chapter OTC app to check your balance and order eligible items straight to your door—at no cost to you.
With select plans, you could use a WellCare Spendables card to help cover out-of-pocket costs (like copays and coinsurance) for dental, vision, and hearing services. These benefits apply to both in-network and out-of-network providers. You can also use the card to help cover anything that isn’t covered by your plan. For example, if your plan doesn’t cover dentures, you can use the Spendables card to help pay for them.
Make sure that you check how much your plan covers for medical services before using your Spendables balance so you can maximize your benefits.
Your Spendables card could help pay for medical equipment like:
Glasses and contact lenses
Hearing aids
Dentures
You cannot use your Spendables card to pay for cosmetic services, like teeth whitening procedures.
To check your WellCare Spendables balance, you can:
Log into your Member Portal
Call TFN: 1-855-744-8550 (TTY 711)—available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for balance inquiries
Flex card benefits can be confusing to navigate. Many Medicare Advantage beneficiaries don’t use this extra money because they either don’t know it exists or it’s too much of a hassle to use it. If you need help using your WellCare flex card benefit, contact WellCare for assistance.
