NationsBenefits, a healthcare fintech company, has announced a retail technology integration with Giant Eagle, a food retailer and distributor. This collaboration enables eligible health-plan members to use their NationsBenefits Benefits Mastercard® Flex Card for fresh produce, pantry staples, and over-the-counter wellness items at over 200 Giant Eagle supermarkets.
The integration leverages NationsBenefits’ real-time Basket Adjudication Service (BAS) to validate item-level eligibility at checkout in milliseconds. This system is designed to connect food as medicine benefits directly to where families shop, while providing health plans with privacy-safe insights to enhance program design and member engagement.
According to regional data, food access and chronic-condition burdens remain prevalent across Giant Eagle’s operating areas, which include western Pennsylvania, north-central Ohio, northern West Virginia, Maryland, and Indiana. State food-insecurity rates were 13.2% in Pennsylvania and 15.3% in Ohio in 2023. Adult diabetes prevalence in parts of the region ranges from approximately 13% in Ohio to 16.2% in West Virginia. Additionally, 18.8 million people nationally reside in low-income, low-access census tracts. These factors underscore the potential impact of embedding health benefits directly at grocery stores to improve daily access and support prevention and adherence. This approach aligns with recent evidence suggesting that food-related supplemental benefits correlate with higher rates of meeting preventive-care and chronic-condition management quality measures in Medicare Advantage.
Michael Parker, Co-CEO of NationsBenefits, stated, “By integrating our fintech and real-time adjudication with Giant Eagle’s checkout, we meet members at the moment of decision, making it straightforward to use their benefits for healthier, culturally familiar groceries without changing how they shop. The result is fewer barriers, stronger prevention, and steadier adherence.”
Mike Chappell, Senior Vice President of Pharmacy at Giant Eagle, commented, “Giant Eagle is focused on expanding access to fresh, high-quality foods in the neighborhoods we serve. Partnering with NationsBenefits allows eligible shoppers to use their health benefits seamlessly for the items that matter most to their families, while maintaining a frictionless, trusted checkout experience across all of our supermarkets.”
The process involves members swiping their NationsBenefits Benefits Mastercard® Flex Card at a participating Giant Eagle register. The NationsBenefits BAS then determines item-level eligibility in real time for categories such as fresh produce, whole grains, and vitamins. Members receive immediate authorization, facilitating a seamless checkout experience. De-identified, HIPAA-compliant ZIP-code purchase insights are subsequently used by health plans to refine local programming and outreach efforts, aiming to support adherence, close care gaps, and improve overall member experience. This integration is intended to turn routine grocery shopping into a driver of preventative health.
The Giant Eagle integration expands NationsBenefits’ retail network and unified benefits and payments platform, ensuring consistency in real-time validation and transparent reporting for various nutrition, OTC, and other benefits. NationsBenefits provides integrated benefit solutions and partners with Medicare, Medicaid, and Commercial health plans to offer rewards, incentives, data analytics, and care gap closure solutions. The Benefits Mastercard® Prepaid Card is issued by The Bancorp Bank, N.
A., Member FDIC, pursuant to a license by Mastercard International Incorporated.
