The Biden administration approved the new requests for Medicaid grocery food benefits to purchase nutritious food aside from medicine.
Biden administration approved new Medicaid Grocery benefit. (Photo: San Mateo County Health)
New Medicaid Grocery Benefit
The Medicaid grocery benefit is normally used only to purchase medicines but this program is now expanded after the Biden administration approved the requests of some states to use Medicaid to buy and purchase nutritious food as the inflation rate continues to rise and increased SNAP benefits are about to end this month.
According to a report published in Yahoo News, the Biden administration has started approving the requests of some states to use Medicaid to pay for food and nutritional counseling. The approval comes amid the deliberation and discussion on broader policy discussion over “food medicine” programs.
The Medicaid grocery benefit is not normally used to purchase food but for health coverage. This helps millions of Americans that include eligible low-income adults, children, pregnant women, elderly adults, and people with disabilities, Wall Street Journal reports.
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New Medicaid Grocery Benefit as SNAP Benefits End
The approval of the new Medicaid grocery benefit is very timely as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits are about to end this month. This will help the recipients of Medicaid to meet their daily needs and purchase nutritious food.
However, Gary D. Alexander, head of the Medicaid and Health Safety Net Initiative for Paragon Health Institute, a critic of the new Medicaid grocery benefit said, “This is really the first I’ve seen the federal government push food and air conditioners and other things as allowable. We already have the SNAP program. It seems like it’s blurring the lines,” according to a report published in THE HEALTHY.
Furthermore, the new Medicaid grocery benefit gained more favorable support as long as it will help to improve the health of Americans.
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