Instacart Digs Deeper Into Health Focus to Help Chicagoans in Need

Grocery technology company Instacart has teamed up with Chicago’s Wellness West organization to help food insecure and chronically ill individuals on the city’s West Side. Through the partnership, the organization will launch a new program that offers a monthly grocery stipend of $79, delivered through Instacart Health Fresh Funds.

For its part, Wellness West addresses health equity needs of uninsured and Medicaid-insured patients with at least one of six specific medical conditions who live in 10 West Side zip codes. The digital stipend can be used to purchase nutritious foods for delivery via Instacart, and can also be combined with other food benefit programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

"We are very pleased to be joining forces with Instacart to advance the cause of health equity," said Misty Drake, executive director for Wellness West. "For the communities we serve, a whole person model of care that addresses social factors such as access to healthy food is essential. With this partnership, Instacart's state-of-the-art consumer-tech platform is brought to the mission of helping people across the West Side who are facing significant barriers to healthy dietary options."

"Everyone should have reliable access to healthy and nutritious food, but today, far too many communities experience nutrition insecurity. Through Instacart Health, we're using the power of our technology to bridge the gap and ensure more families can put wholesome foods on their tables," said Sarah Mastrorocco, VP and general manager of Instacart Health. "We're proud to partner with Wellness West to help families on the West Side of Chicago overcome barriers to access and get the foods they need to support their health and well-being."

Instacart has been steadily increasing its reach in health care throughout the United States over the last several months. The company recently joined forces with health care provider Kaiser Permanente to study the impact of convenient access to nutritious food on health outcomes. Similar to Instacart’s partnership with Wellness West, Kaiser Permanente will provide study participants with Instacart Health Fresh Funds to purchase nutritious foods and pantry staples that will be delivered directly to their homes via Instacart.

Instacart also recently teamed up with InComm Payments to help older customers pay for groceries with supplemental health benefit cards. Through a technical integration with that payments technology company, seniors who are members of participating Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and other eligible programs can use plan-sponsored funds to buy groceries as well as over-the-counter medications and wellness products for delivery via Instacart. The program begins on Jan. 1, 2024.

San Francisco-based Instacart partners with more than 1,400 national, regional and local retail banners to deliver from 80,000-plus stores across more than 14,000 cities in North America. In September, Instacart started trading under the ticker CART following a $30 per share price set for its initial public offering (IPO).