Walmart links healthcare with grocery shopping
Dive Brief:
Walmart announced Wednesday new tools to help Medicare Advantage members find items that qualify for their over-the-counter benefits..People can add their benefit cards to their virtual Walmart wallets to access a digital experience that includes a product badge and search filter to identify which items are eligible for benefits. When shopping in stores, the badge will appear when people scan eligible items' barcodes with the Walmart app. Walmart also rolled out Wednesday a new AI-powered digital platform called Everyday Health Signals that gives personalized nutrition guidance to Medicare Advantage members who opt in.
Dive Insight:
Walmart's latest rollout comes at a time when retailers are adding ways to make it easier for people to combine their healthcare benefits with grocery shopping.
Walmart positioned the new tools as ways to help customers who participate in Medicare Advantage plans avoid wasting their OTC benefits, citing research from the Consumer Healthcare Products Association showing that nearly two-thirds of Medicare Advantage members don't use that component of their plans. The retailer is looking to tap into the billions of dollars worth of benefits Medicare Advantage members annually forfeit and encourage shoppers who might be using their benefits elsewhere to bring that spending to Walmart.
Walmart said the rollout of the tools will launch with supplemental benefits provider NationsBenefits.
The retailer's "benefits program eligible" badge appears on a wide variety of over-the-counter, food and wellness products such as meal replacement shakes, ground coffee, vitamins, and cold and flu medication.
Customers can also access a tracker that lets them monitor their unused benefits.
Walmart said the Everyday Health Signals platform can "enhance" the well-being of Medicare Advantage customers by providing information that can help them make healthier choices. By analyzing their Walmart purchases, the AI-powered tool can provide the customer with a nutrition analysis and shopping lists.
Walmart said that it is expanding the Everyday Health Signals platform to additional health plans and benefits managers.
The retailer noted in the announcement that it is in a prime position to help customers marry their health and wellness needs with shopping, given that the company has data on 145 million weekly customers online and in-store.
"We saw an opportunity to streamline the health benefits shopping journey, make it easier for customers to discover eligible items and offer convenient pickup and delivery options that fit their busy schedule," Ralph Clare, Walmart U.S.'s senior vice president, health and wellness merchandising, said in a statement.
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