Flexible Spending Benefit
Understanding Your Vision, Hearing and Transportation Allowances
Your plan includes separate allowances for routine vision care, hearing care, and transportation expenses. Each allowance is loaded onto your OTC card and kept in its own “wallet,” so you can easily track how much you have available for each benefit. You must use funds for their designated benefit, and you cannot combine or transfer them between wallets.
Your vision and hearing allowances are available through December 31. Any unused funds expire at the end of the year and do not roll over.
Your transportation allowance refreshes each quarter. Be sure to use your available funds before the end of each quarter, as unused amounts do not carry over to the next quarter.
2027 Flexible Spending
| Feature | Benefit Details |
|---|---|
| Annual Allowance | Vision: $150 per year for Vision (routine eye exams and eyewear, combined) Acupuncture and Accupressure: $250 per quarter for other covered alternative therapies Transportation: $1,000 per quarter Each allowance is held and tracked separately on your card. |
| Covered Expenses | Out-of-pocket expenses for Vision, acupuncture, alternative therapies, and transportation. |
| Payment Method | Members receive a card with each allowance automatically loaded—the card sorts purchases by category at the point of service. |
| Roll-over Rules | Any unused annual allowance funds at the end of the calendar year do not carry over to the next year. Unused transportation dollars expire at the end of each quarter. |
| Disenrollment Rule | If you disenroll from the plan, any remaining balances on the card expire immediately. |
Key Usage Categories
- Vision: Can be used for routine eye exams and eyewear (frames, lenses, or contact lenses) from in-network vision providers. Medicare-covered eye exams and eyewear after cataract surgery are covered separately at no cost and do not count against this allowance.
- Transportation: Can be used for unlimited one-way trips to plan-approved, health-related locations by taxi, rideshare service, bus/subway, van, or medical transport. Refreshes each calendar quarter.