On Sept. 28, Instacart, a San Francisco-headquartered grocery store technology company, announced Instacart Health. The new initiative aims to increase nutrition security, make health choices simpler for consumers, and expand the role food plays in improving health outcomes. The initiative was launched in coordination with the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health.
A press release on the initiative says that “Today more than one in 10 people in the United States don’t have access to reliable nutritious food, and more than 100 million people suffer from diet-related disease. These trends are the impetus for Instacart Health, which includes a range of new products, partnerships, and policy commitments focused on three key pillars: Nutrition Security, Health Made Easy, and Food as Medicine.”
With the launch of Instacart Health, Instacart announced a suite of new products, partnerships, and commitments including:
- Fresh Funds – A product that enables organizations to distribute funds to purchase good from grocery retailers on the Instacart App. Organizations—such as nonprofits, insurance companies and insurers, and employers—can impose and limit purchases to certain food categories to incentivize health habits and give individuals access to health foods that may be cost prohibitive. Instacart plans to launch a pilot of Fresh Funds in the coming weeks with Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), a nonprofit that’s mission is to transform the food landscape in the interest of health equity.
- Care Carts – A product that is designed to provide healthcare providers and caregivers the capability to order groceries on behalf of someone else. Several organizations and other services are already currently using Care Carts. Including digital nutrition platform Good Measures in partnership with WellCare of Kentucky; hospital-at-home solution provider Medically Home; food solutions and care management platform NourishedRx in partnership with a number of health plans; and digital nutrition services Season Health and Foodsmart.
- Modernizing Medicaid benefits – In the weeks ahead, WellCare of Kentucky will offer Medicaid members who have been screened for high blood pressure the option to participate in Good Measures’ Good Food Prescription program. A Good Measures registered dietitian will work with individuals to personalize a nutrition plan for them and will have access to Instacart’s Care Carts.
- Health Tags – Customers will be able to view up to 23 item-level labels—such as low salt, low sugar, keto, gluten-free—while shopping on Instacart. Health tags are currently enabled across 500,000 items in Instacart’s catalog.
In addition to these new products, Instacart is also adding to its library of recipes through partnerships with Hearst Magazine and publishers such as Dotdash Meredith. Instacart will also be working with influencers, chefs, registered dietians, and wellness experts to share their Carts and recipes.
Regarding payment, Instacart announced its intent to work with the USDA to expand EBT SNAP payment across Instacart grocery partners in all states in 2023 with the ultimate goal of expanding EBT SNAP access to all Instacart grocery partners by 2030.
“Over the past two years, Instacart has been working closely with government leaders and retailers to modernize, strengthen and scale important programs like EBT SNAP that help expand access to nutritious food,” The release adds. “The company pioneered the EBT SNAP retailer onboarding process, enabling over 70 retail banners across more than 8,000 stores to accept EBT SNAP payments online via Instacart, reaching a majority of the nearly 34 million people experiencing nutrition security in the United States.”
Instacart also said in the release that consumers will be able to shop with EBT SNAP benefits inside a store by scanning an item to find out if it is eligible for EBT SNAP benefits.
The release notes that “In 2023, Instacart plans to enable customers to shop and pay for everyday essentials with their Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits—a government cash assistance program that helps low-income families pay for household items like diapers and toilet paper. Families will also be able to use TANF benefits to cover service and delivery fees on Instacart, which aren’t currently covered by EBT SNAP benefits.”
Moreover, Instacart and PHA are aiming to bring 10 million servings of fruits and vegetables to families across the U.S. over the next three years via fundraising campaigns, joint programming and technology offerings.
Nancy E. Roman, president and CEO of PHA was quoted in the release saying that “For too long, too many people have lacked access to nutritious food because it’s either too far away, too expensive, or both. With help from Instacart and their Fresh Funds initiative, we can break down these barriers to ensure everyone—no matter how far away they are from a grocery store – has access to the fruits and vegetables they deserve. Creating a more equitable food system can’t be done alone, and we’re thrilled that Instacart is helping us achieve our goal of providing 100 million servings of fresh produce to families in need by 2025 by committing to provide 10 million of those servings.”
Lastly, Instacart announced its Instacart Health Policy Agenda, which outlines the company’s top three policy priorities and new commitments to help increase access to nutritious food and improve health outcomes. The three policy priorities are: modernizing food assistance programs, increasing the availability of affordable, nutritious food in underserved urban and rural areas, and providing equitable access to health-tailored groceries and food prescription programs.
