Bilt Expands Into Health Care With Walgreens Partnership

Bilt Rewards, a loyalty program that offers a way to earn rewards on rent, announced a new partnership with Walgreens that’ll make it easier to use a flexible savings account (FSA) or health savings account (HSA) for eligible purchases at the pharmacy chain. You can also earn extra Bilt points when you shop at Walgreens. These new benefits are already live in the updated version of the Bilt app.

When you link your Bilt account with an FSA or HSA card, Bilt can automatically detect eligible FSA or HSA purchases at Walgreens on your other linked credit and debit cards. Through the Bilt app, you can choose to apply your FSA or HSA funds to eligible purchases, and Bilt will credit your original form of payment. You’ll also earn Bilt points for spending at Walgreens with any card linked to your Bilt account.

This partnership presents an easy way to automate applicable health care benefits and earn additional Bilt points.

How Bilt’s FSA/HSA benefit works

Bilt’s new health care benefit essentially helps people save money by using the money they’ve set aside for health care expenses in an FSA or HSA. These savings accounts can be difficult to use because people might not be aware of which purchases qualify or they forget their FSA card at the pharmacy.

In a news release announcing the Walgreens partnership, Bilt says the new feature addresses the “approximately $4 billion in FSA dollars lost annually due to non-use.” It’s also the first time this benefit has been available at a major pharmacy chain, according to Bilt.

So how does it work? First, you’ll have to link your FSA/HSA card and the debit or credit card you use for drugstore purchases. When you shop at Walgreens using any debit or credit linked to your Bilt account, Bilt will identify which items are eligible for FSA or HSA reimbursement and offer to apply benefits with a single click.

Bilt says this “eliminates the need to carry separate FSA or HSA cards and removes the guesswork in identifying eligible items.” Bilt also does not sell member data, so your health care purchases will remain private.

Earning Bilt points at Walgreens

You don’t have to link your FSA or HSA card to benefit from the Walgreens partnership. If you have any credit or debit card to your Bilt Rewards account and shop at Walgreens, you’ll earn:

• 1 Bilt Rewards points per $1 spent on all Walgreens purchases.

• 2 Bilt Rewards points per $1 spent on Walgreens-branded items.

• 100 Bilt points on prescription refills (subject to exclusions).

You could earn even more Bilt points by using the Bilt World Elite Mastercard® Credit Card, for an additional 1 Bilt point per $1 spent on the card, but other cards can earn more points on drugstore purchases. The card must be used five times per statement period to earn points on rent and qualifying net purchases (purchases minus returns/credits) for that statement period.

Credit cards for drugstore purchases

Because you’ll earn Bilt Rewards for spending at Walgreens with any linked debit or credit card, you could use a card that earns bonus rewards at drugstores and stack them with Bilt Rewards.

Bilt Rewards transfer to several airline and hotel partners, including Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and World of Hyatt, making it a great way to earn transferable points that you can redeem for travel. Bilt Rewards is free to join, and you don’t need to be a Bilt cardholder to earn rewards. If you do any spending at Walgreens, Bilt’s new partnership with the drugstore is an easy and free way to earn extra points on your purchases.