New York drivers: have you heard of Drivers Benefits from The Black Car Fund? If not, don’t miss out! Drivers Benefits offers NY rideshare (including Uber, Lyft, and traditional black car) drivers a variety of benefits including health and wellness discounts and insurance, and best of all? There’s no cost to sign up for these benefits! Senior RSG contributor Paula Gibbins breaks down the Drivers Benefits program below.
Learn more about Drivers Benefits and activate your benefits.
This article was sponsored by the Black Car Fund, but as always, opinions are our own.
What is Drivers Benefits?
Drivers Benefits is a unique program available to eligible NY rideshare and black car drivers that offers many great benefits at no cost to these drivers. That’s right, no cost! It may sound too good to be true, but it’s not!
Drivers Benefits is paid for by The Black Car Fund, a non-profit organization created by the State of New York to provide eligible drivers with workers’ compensation insurance as well as health and wellness benefits. So, if you are an active NY For-Hire-Vehicle (FHV) driver, sign up today because you have earned these benefits!Still not convinced? Keep reading for our full overview of the program, including a deep dive into some of the key benefits and a brief history of how the program was formed.
Overview of Key Health & Wellness Benefits
*UPGRADED* Dental Insurance
In the fall of 2022, Drivers Benefits upgraded their Dental Insurance, and I was floored by the improvements.
Drivers Benefits now pays for 100% of all in-network1 dental services, up to $2,000 maximum per year! That means that eligible, enrolled drivers can get preventative, basic, or even major dental services including up to 2 cleanings per year, x-rays, fillings, crowns, even dentures, allat no cost to them.
You can learn more about the plan coverage here. Regular dental care is important for your overall health and wellbeing. Using this plan to do regular checkups and cleanings helps prevent bigger issues down the road that could be more costly in the long run.
1 Preventive services (Type A), Basic Restorative (Type B) and Major Restorative (Type C) are 100% covered when you visit an in-network participating dentist, subject to frequency limitations and $2,000 annual benefit maximum.
Vision Coverage
One of the benefits that most surprised me was how much is included with the Vision Coverage benefit.
Everything in the image is provided at no cost to you—including your annual eye exam, frames up to $200, lenses, and some coatings, or contacts including the fitting, follow up and a 6-month supply. Doing the math on this, drivers can save over $400 by simply using the Vision Coverage.
Keep in mind, if you wanted more outside of this coverage, you would be responsible for that expense out of pocket.
In addition to great services, they have also made it convenient for you to get your eye exam. You can visit one of the many GVS locationsthroughout New York or go to their mobile Vision Van, which is available to drivers at the JFK Cellphone Lot West M-F from 9-5. You can even call 833-814-8590 to book an appointment at one of their Vision VIP Locations.
These select vision centers offer:
- At least one multilingual staff member
- Parking spaces
- Full understanding of your Drivers Benefits Vision Coverage – so they’ll know exactly what’s included at no cost to enrolled drivers!
Telemedicine
As drivers, we’re all strapped for time, making the telemedicine option a great benefit. The Drivers Benefits telemedicine service, provided by Walmart Virtual Health Care (formerly MeMD), is free to use if you are a Drivers Benefits member. This is a virtual doctor’s visit, so you don’t have to take time out of your day to go to a clinic and it’s available 24/7/365.
Instead, sit in the comfort of your home or in your car while you’re waiting to pick up your next passengers and receive on-demand exams for health issues such as:
- Cold, flu, sore throats, sinus infections
- Allergies, itchy eyes, pink eye
- Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
- UTls, abdominal pain
- Skin infections, rashes
- Travel medications
- Short-term prescription refills
- General advice and consultation
Who will you see for your virtual exam? Walmart Virtual Health Care’s medical team includes MDs, DOs, NPs, and PAs who average over 16 years of experience. They can give you a personalized treatment plan and send prescriptions right to your pharmacy. Again, they have made this service easy to use and you can use it as many times as you would like!
Accident Benefits
Drivers Benefits recently made a big splash with the addition of the Accident Disability Insurance Plan and Personal Accident Insurance.
- *NEW* Personal Accident Insurance – Access to direct, lump-sum payments from $50 to $40,000 (depending on severity) in the event of a covered accidental injury that first occurs on or after 2/1/23. See Certificate of Insurance for more details
- *NEW* Accident Disability Insurance Plan – Helps provide income protection if you are injured due to a covered accident outside of work and are unable to perform your job. To learn more on how this benefit supports drivers, read our latest article here.
- Workers’ Compensation – This benefit helps cover medical bills and a portion of lost wages if FHV drivers are unable to work due to an on-the-job injury, while being dispatched by a BCF Member Base.2
2 Workers Compensation Insurance is automatically made available to eligible NY FHV Drivers who are affiliated with, and dispatched by, a Black Car Fund (BCF) Member Base. Eligible drivers must enroll to have access to all the other Health & Wellness benefits.
Additional Benefits
Additional benefits offered to Drivers through this program include:
- Prescription Discounts – save on prescription medications at thousands of participating pharmacies.
- Urgent Care Discounts – Access to discounts on Urgent Care services in the Metropolitan New York City locations.
- Diagnostic Imaging Discounts – Access to providers who offer 20%-80% savings on MRI, CT and PET scans.
- IDG Mental Health & Wellness Program – Get free access to counseling.
Are you convinced now? If you are an eligible New York Rideshare or traditional Black Car driver, you can activate your benefits here or call 888-306-1947, Monday-Friday 8 am to 8 pm. If English isn’t your first language, their call center is staffed to accommodate almost any language.
How is the Black Car Fund Funded?
Drivers may be wary of this because it sounds too good to be true, right? However,these are benefits that are specifically meant for drivers—and there is no cost to access them.
If there’s no cost to drivers, how is the Black Car Fund funded? There is a surcharge added to what the passengers pay for a ride. This fee goes towards the benefits for the drivers.
Here’s how the Black Car Fund addresses this question on their website:
“The passenger surcharge is added to the passenger’s fare, which is then collected by your base and sent to us on a monthly basis, allowing us to provide Workers’ Compensation and Health & Wellness benefits to you and your fellow base drivers. While the passenger surcharge may appear on your paycheck as a deduction, it does not come out of your pay. The surcharge is paid for by the passenger as a part of their full fare.”
Our Final Thoughts
After researching and speaking with The Black Car Fund, we have confirmed that it is true — these benefits are available to all active New York FHV drivers at no cost to them! Surprisingly, what we also found out was that many NY drivers are not aware that they have access to these benefits.
If you do happen to be an FHV driver in New York, make sure you sign up for your Drivers Benefits now by activating your benefits today here.
You’ve earned these benefits, so make sure to use them!
NY drivers, have you heard of Drivers Benefits or used your membership yet? Let us know in the comments!
-Paula @ RSG
