For Medicare beneficiaries who are homebound or unable to afford groceries, there are some federal government programs that provide funds to buy the food they need.
While such programs are available through some Medicaid and Medicare Advantage plans, availability is limited and each plan has its own eligibility criteria. That means finding a program that provides money for groceries or that delivers meals to Medicare beneficiaries might be challenging.
Which Medicare plans have a grocery benefit?
Traditional Medicare (also called original or fee-for-service Medicare) does not offer a grocery allowance, but some Medicare Advantage plans, including some special needs plans (SNPs) and dual-eligible special-needs plans (D-SNPs) do have a grocery benefit. D-SNPs are for Medicare members who are also enrolled in Medicaid.
Also, seniors enrolled in some Medicare Advantage plans who are disabled or who have a low-income subsidy (called LIS) may be eligible to receive grocery benefits, according to Christina Wu, vice president of policy and research at the Long-Term Quality Alliance, a nonprofit membership organization focused on advancing quality long-term care services.
Until recently, Medicare Advantage plans could provide meal delivery to members who needed it, but only after a hospital stay. Under the CHRONIC Care Act, as of 2020, Medicare Advantage plans could provide meals at any time, if warranted to keep a member from needing to be hospitalized, according to a report from the Commonwealth Fund.
“The CHRONIC Care Act gave new flexibilities to Medicare Advantage plans to offer non-medical benefits such as food or funds for groceries,” says Alexandra Ashbrook, director of root causes and specific populations at the Food Research and Action Center, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., that works to improve nutrition and health for low-income people.
The law does not specify how Medicare Advantage plans should provide non-medical services, Ashbrook adds: “Therefore, the Medicare Advantage plan can decide if they want to provide those benefits, and those benefits have to be designed only for the chronically ill.”
That restriction means Medicare Advantage plans cannot give these services to every member. “The non-medical services have to be targeted to people who have at least one chronic health condition, such as those at risk of hospitalization or some other adverse health outcome requiring intensive care coordination,” she says.
Other options for grocery assistance
Another program to consider for low-income seniors who need assistance with groceries is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) from the federal Department of Agriculture, Ashbrook explains. The SNAP program provides funds for seniors and other low-income people in rural and urban areas, she says.
“Unfortunately, only about 48% of eligible older adults are participating in SNAP,” she says. “That’s a really important gap that health care providers and health systems could help to close before looking at any of the other additional food programs.”
One drawback to the SNAP program is that it may not cover an entire month’s food, Ashbrook says. During the COVID-19 public health emergency, SNAP benefits totaled $281 per month for each eligible older adult. But after Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act earlier this year, the emergency allotments for SNAP ended as of March 1, dropping the maximum monthly payment to $199. The minimum payments also were cut sharply to $23 per month, she says.
Changing Medicare Advantage plans
KFF, an organization focused on health policy, reported that 71% of Medicare Advantage plans were offering a meal benefit in 2023. Each plan sets its own conditions for meal benefits, so older adults should check with their plan or consider changing to another Medicare Advantage plan if possible, says Tyler Overstreet Cromer, a principal and health of the Medicare innovation practice at ATI Advisory, a health care consulting firm in Washington, D.C.
