WIC Purchases Getting Easier

The Colorado Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program is introducing a new way to purchase WIC foods that will make it easier for families to get WIC benefits and reduce visits to the clinic.

Starting in August, WIC clinics will begin offering families a debit-style card, called eWIC, replacing the current system of paper vouchers or “checks.” eWIC simplifies grocery checkout and ends confusion over which foods are WIC eligible.

Participants swipe the eWIC card as they would a debit or credit card and enter a personal identification number (PIN) to buy groceries. Each WIC household receives one eWIC card, which accesses an electronic account that tracks the family’s WIC food allowance, deducts food as it is purchased and adds food allocated each month. Families can track their WIC food several ways, including checking the most recent cash register receipt.

The eWIC card allows WIC participants to purchase food when needed during the month. This convenience was not possible with WIC checks, which required all food on the check to be bought in a single purchase. Other benefits include:

Eliminating the need for participants to come to the clinic to receive new food allocations.

Eliminating confusion at the checkout line, reducing checkout time and customer distress.

Eliminating the need for store cashiers to identify whether or not a specified food is Colorado WIC eligible. The stores’ UPC code database does that, making the purchase of WIC foods simpler and faster.

"eWIC is great because it makes shopping for WIC food benefits more convenient and easier for WIC families and cashiers," said Erin Ulric, Colorado WIC Program Director. "eWIC gives our WIC families more flexibility and improves the quality of their WIC experience."

The cards were piloted in Pueblo and northeast Colorado last spring. Official statewide eWIC rollout begins in August at WIC clinics in southeast Colorado. Clinics in southwest Colorado will begin eWIC card distribution in September, followed by clinics in the northwest in October. Last to rollout the card will be clinics in the Denver and Colorado Springs metro areas, scheduled in November. By early 2017, all Colorado WIC participants will be using eWIC cards instead of paper checks.

WIC is the nation’s premier public health program, improving the health, growth and development of children by providing important nutrition information and healthy food. One in two babies nationwide are eligible for WIC. Colorado WIC provides more than $60 million per year in food benefits to approximately 157,000 women, infants, and children in Colorado. WIC foods are purchased at 452 Colorado groceries and farm stands. It is among services offered by the State of Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.