The National Grocers Association hosted an inaugural meeting to discuss solutions for providing access to healthy benefit cards in high-need communities being served by independent grocers. While these cards provide a valuable benefit to Americans across the nation, only a handful of retailers are currently set up to accept these cards as payment.
Healthy benefit programs, which have surged in recent years, provide eligible customers with a financial boost to help them pay for essentials, including food, medicine, and other over-the-counter products. Benefits are administered as cards provided by payment networks that contract with health insurance companies.
Thirty stakeholders from across the healthy benefit card industry were in attendance, including health insurance companies, payment networks, point-of-sale system providers, and independent community grocers. NGA spearheaded the meeting to discuss the issue, explore possible solutions, and urge cooperation among the groups to reach a resolution by the end of the third quarter of this year.
“Healthy Benefit Card programs underscore the integral role that food plays in overall health. By combining affordability, accessibility, and nutritional support, independent grocers can empower individuals to make informed choices about their health and well-being,” said Stephanie Johnson, NGA VP of government relations, in a statement. “We appreciate the opportunity to convene these important stakeholders and look forward to building consensus around ways in which we can achieve broad access for independent grocers and their customers.”
Earlier this year, NGA penned an open letter, signed by 1,695 independent grocers, to key healthy benefit card stakeholders, urging that the cards be accepted by a broader variety of retailers.
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