The National Grocers Association (NGA) has partnered with Fincretive to integrate healthy benefit cards (HBC) and over-the-counter (OTC) cards into NGA members’ point-of-sale (POS) systems.
“This partnership simplifies healthy benefit card acceptance by easily connecting NGA members to all major card processors through their POS providers,” said Stephanie Johnson, NGA’s group VP of government relations.
“Instead of navigating multiple sign-ups and system updates, independent grocers can use Fincretive’s gateway solution to accept the majority of healthy benefit and OTC cards.”
Over the past few years, NGA members have had virtually no access to healthy benefit cards from the Medicare Advantage (MA) supplemental benefits for the chronically ill (SSBCI) food program.
Healthy benefit cards provided MA participants with a monthly grocery stipend; however, these cards are primarily accepted at major supermarkets, leaving independent grocers excluded, despite their investments in technology and upgrades to comply with program requirements. This exclusion hurts independent grocers and their customers.
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“Fincretive is excited to partner with NGA to streamline access to healthy benefit cards at independent grocers throughout the country,” said Judd Ferrer, Fincretive’s chief strategy officer.
“Our platform modernizes OTC/HBC processing, so grocers don’t need to sign up with multiple card processors or have multiple terminals to process transactions. This partnership benefits both grocers and customers alike, fostering widespread acceptance of healthy benefit cards.”
To further provide grocers with basic information and help them understand the steps needed to begin accepting healthy benefit cards, NGA and Fincretive launched a new website. At the upcoming NGA Show in Las Vegas, the association and Fincretive will be fielding questions and hosting a series of informational sessions to introduce grocers to the partnership.
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