Medicare Grocery Benefit

A Medicare Grocery Benefit, also known as a Medicare Food Allowance or Heath Foods Card, is available through select Medicare Special Needs Plans. It provides eligible beneficiaries with grocery funds issued through prepaid debit cards – commonly called flex cards – for the purchase of healthy food, produce, over-the-counter medicine and other products from participating retailers.

The Medicare Grocery Benefit card isn’t guaranteed by all insurers and the guidelines vary, so it’s best to double-check details and availability with your plan.

You can typically only use your Medicare Grocery Benefit on select healthy foods. Sugary, processed food will likely be excluded.

*Insurers might have slightly different inclusions and exclusions.

A Medicare Food Allowance card is either a prepaid visa card or a coupon card that is reloaded monthly or quarterly. “The average Medicare Grocery card amount is $150 a month in 2023,” Michael Jones, a licensed insurance agent and owner of Grand Anchor Insurance, told RetireGuide. When comparing several insurers, there was a monthly range of $25-$275 loaded on a Medicare Food Allowance card.

If it is a prepaid visa card, you’ll swipe it as you could a normal debit card. If it is a coupon card, the cashier will need to scan the back of the card. Make sure you activate your Medicare Food Allowance card before trying to make a purchase.

The funds on your Medicare Food Allowance card likely will not roll over from month to month — so if you have this benefit, make sure to use all the funds each payment period.

There will also be rules on what grocery stores accept your Medicare grocery allowance card.

According to Clover Health, some common grocery stores you’ll likely be able to use your Medicare grocery allowance card at include Walgreens, Walmart, Food Lion, Kroger and CVS. Contact your insurer to see what foods and stores are eligible for your card.

Some insurers allow you to pay in-store or shop online for approved foods. CarePlus Health Plans offers home-delivered meals with DeliverLean, which has no shipping charges.

Most D-SNP and C-SNP plans, types of Medicare Advantage plans, offer a Medicare Food Allowance.

Jones offered his expert insight on which plans often offer a Medicare Food Allowance. “Most traditional Medicare Advantage plans do not come with a Grocery Benefit or Health Foods Card,” Jones told RetireGuide.  “But most of the D-SNP and C-SNP plans will have Medicare Grocery Benefit, as well as an Over-the-Counter benefit and even a Utilities Benefit that can be used to pay your phone, light, internet and cable bills.”

In 2022, more insurers, like Florida Blue, Wellcare and Aetna, are starting to introduce this benefit to help seniors keep up with nutrition during difficult times of inflation.

You may be more likely to have a Medicare Food Allowance card available if you have a D-SNP plan. Humana and CarePlus Health Plans, for example, offer 100% of D-SNP beneficiaries a Medicare food allowance.

In most cases, if you have a D-SNP or C-SNP plan, you should be eligible for a Medicare Food Allowance card if your insurer offers it. In rare cases, you may be eligible for a Medicare Food Allowance card with a traditional Medicare Advantage plan.

To qualify for the benefit, you will most likely need to complete an annual wellness visit, a health risk assessment or have a specific condition.

Some plans may have different qualifications. Speak with your doctor or insurer to see if your condition is included.

If a Medicare Food Allowance isn’t an option for you, there are other resources for nutritional meals like Meals on Wheels and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The Meals on Wheels program provides meals and SNAP provides funds for you to buy groceries. With over 7.3 million older adults lacking nutritional food in the U.S., it’s important to take your needs seriously and get help if necessary.

Meals on Wheels is currently helping deliver 221 million hot meals to 2.4 million seniors each year. The meals are typically delivered Monday through Friday. There are qualification requirements to sign up for Meals on Wheels.

According to the National Council on Aging, the SNAP program provides low-income older adults with $104 per month on average to help put food on the table. Currently, three out of five qualified seniors are missing out on SNAP benefits. If you believe you could be eligible, look into enrolling for SNAP to cut down on costs.

Editor Samantha Connell contributed to this article.