Instacart Launches Health Initiative, Expands SNAP EBT Access

Grocery delivery platform Instacart has launched Instacart Health, a program the company said is designed to help consumers make healthier choices and improve nutrition security.

Launched in conjunction with the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health, “Instacart Health underscores the critical intersection of food and health, the important role that private sector companies can play, and the need for public-private sector partnership,” the company said in a news release Wednesday (Sept. 28).

The program is based around three pillars: “Nutrition Security,” “Health Made Easy,” and “Food as Medicine,” according to the release. It includes research partnerships and a new policy agenda aimed at advocating for programs that support nutrition access and better health.

Among the initiatives Instacart Health will tackle is “Fresh Funds,” which lets organizations such as insurers, nonprofits and employers give people money to buy nutritious food from grocery retailers on the Instacart App, the release stated.

Meanwhile, Instacart said in the release it will work with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to expand Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) access to Instacart grocery partners in all 50 states next year, with the goal of expanding EBT SNAP access to all Instacart grocery partners by 2030.

This news comes two months after the company expanded its EBT and SNAP services to 10 new states, part of a broader trend of grocers and aggregators discovering ways to accept and streamline SNAP EBT use through their digital channels.

Read more: Instacart Expands EBT SNAP Offerings

Among them is BJ’s Wholesale Club, which earlier this month began accepting SNAP EBT payments when members check out using the company’s website or mobile app.

See more: BJ’s Wholesale, Rivals Chase Trade-Down Consumer Trend via SNAP EBT

This month also saw Walmart make updates to its online shopping channels to make it easier for SNAP EBT recipients to shop and pay. Among the changes: while buying groceries on the Walmart website, shoppers can filter to see EBT- or SNAP-eligible items and then use their EBT or SNAP debit cards at checkout.

By streamlining SNAP EBT use, merchants gain the opportunity to earn the digital loyalty of SNAP EBT participants — a population that includes 41 million people nationwide, as of June, according to the USDA.