More than half of the 3.2 million flexible spending accounts (FSA) forfeit funds due to nonuse, and the average amount of money wasted racks up to $441 per person according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute. However, a new partnership between Bilt Rewards and Walgreens (WBA) can help you load your FSAs and HSAs (health savings accounts) to automatically pay for eligible items and rack up points.
Bilt Rewards Founder and CEO Ankur Jain sits down with Brad Smith and Anjalee Khemlani to discuss the partnership and how it can help Americans save money as the cost of living remains a significant stressor.
"When we started Bilt as the neighborhood loyalty program, we said how do we reward people for housing? And created the first program that lets you earn points on rent. But, healthcare is also a huge expense for Americans, and it's only growing. And so we said, look, when you go to your neighborhood pharmacy, and you're buying these everyday items, how can we help you save money in an easier way, just like we did for rent?" Jain explains.
He notes that so many items aside from prescription drugs can be purchased with an HSA or FSA, and with the new partnership, Bilt can "automatically identify any of the items that are eligible for the savings, and with one click, apply those for you so you don't have to worry about it anymore." He is particularly excited about the partnership with Walgreens because it has a "national presence" and explains that Bilt is now focused on scaling with local pharmacies.
"We envision this type of program being able to help you save automatically on your doctor visits, maybe at your grocery store. I mean, people don't realize you can use FSA, HSA benefits even at the grocery store on a ton of items. And so I just keep thinking, the first step to fixing some of these healthcare costs is take the billions and billions of dollars that are sitting there unused for Americans, and make it easy for them to access it," Jain adds.
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This post was written by Melanie Riehl