NationsBenefits®, the leader in healthcare fintech and integrated benefit solutions, today announced a retail technology integration with Giant Eagle, one of the nation’s largest food retailers and distributors. Through NationsBenefits real-time Basket Adjudication Service (BAS) and the NationsBenefits Benefits Mastercard® Flex Card, eligible health-plan members can pay for fresh produce, pantry staples, and over-the-counter wellness items at more than 200 Giant Eagle supermarkets, where item-level eligibility is validated at checkout in just milliseconds. The collaboration also further connects food as medicine benefits directly to where families shop, while giving health plans privacy-safe insights to refine program design and member outreach.

Food access and chronic-condition burdens remain a concern across Giant Eagle’s footprint, including western Pennsylvania, north-central Ohio, northern West Virginia, Maryland, and Indiana. Regional indicators point to consistent needs: state food-insecurity rates sit in the low- to mid-teens (13.2% in Pennsylvania; 15.3% in Ohio, 2023), adult diabetes prevalence in parts of the region ranges from ~13% in Ohio to ~16.2% in West Virginia, and nationally 18.8 million people live in low-income, low-access census tracts. Taken together, these dynamics reinforce why embedding benefits at familiar grocery stores can improve day-to-day access and convert routine shopping into stronger prevention and adherence. This approach is also consistent with recent evidence that food-related supplemental benefits are associated with higher odds of meeting preventive-care and chronic-condition management quality measures in Medicare Advantage.

“Food is central to community health,” said Michael Parker, Co-CEO of NationsBenefits. “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.”

“Giant Eagle is focused on expanding access to fresh, high-quality foods in the neighborhoods we serve,” said Mike Chappell, Senior Vice President of Pharmacy at Giant Eagle. “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 is simple. With every swipe at a participating Giant Eagle register, NationsBenefits’ Basket Adjudication Service (BAS) determines item-level eligibility in real time at the point of sale—covering categories such as fresh produce, whole grains, vitamins, and other plan-approved items. Members receive immediate authorization when using the NationsBenefits Benefits Mastercard® Flex Card, creating a seamless checkout experience. De-identified, HIPAA-compliant ZIP-code purchase insights then enable plans to refine local programming and outreach, supporting adherence, closing care gaps, and enhancing the overall member experience.

Embedding benefits at the checkout turns an ordinary grocery run into a powerful driver of prevention. The Giant Eagle integration extends NationsBenefits’ growing retail network and unified benefits and payments platform, ensuring nutrition, OTC, and other benefits flow through the same real-time validation and transparent reporting that plans and members can rely on.

About NationsBenefits®

NationsBenefits is the leading healthcare fintech company at the forefront of the convergence of commerce and care. By unifying supplemental benefits, financial technology, and clinical outcome solutions into a single, seamless ecosystem, NationsBenefits transforms how health plans and members engage with the healthcare journey. The company partners with Medicare, Medicaid, and Commercial health plans to provide innovative rewards and incentives, data analytics, and care gap closure solutions aimed at driving growth and improving population health. Through its proprietary fintech infrastructure and integrated platform, NationsBenefits turns traditional benefit administration into a precision tool for outcome improvement and care program adherence. By leveraging opt-in health data to drive smarter choices and expanding access to essential health solutions, NationsBenefits empowers members and optimizes their experience at every touchpoint and is dedicated to improving quality of life by making healthy outcomes more accessible. To learn more, visit NationsBenefits.com.

*The Benefits Mastercard® Prepaid Card is issued by The Bancorp Bank, N.A., Member FDIC, pursuant to license by Mastercard International Incorporated. Mastercard and the circles design are registered trademarks of Mastercard International Incorporated. Card can be used for eligible expenses wherever Mastercard is accepted. Valid only in the U.S. No cash access.

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“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."