SNAP Benefits: Can You Use It To Buy Medicine?

SNAP benefits program is made to address the food needs of low-income families, with each state coming with its own ways and schedules of distribution of payments.

Just like any federal program, it has its eligibility rules and requirements before the food stamp payment can be used by SNAP benefits recipients.

Some of the eligible items that SNAP benefits can buy include fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, dairy products, bread, cereals, snack foods, seeds, and plants, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture website.

Beer, wine, liquor, cigarettes, or tobacco products are ineligible items when using SNAP benefits.

SNAP benefits cannot also buy live animals, cleaning supplies, hygiene items, and other household supplies.

Other ineligible items are hot foods, vitamins, medicines, and supplements.

Some states offer hot foods under the Restaurant Meals Program, which can be used by certain SNAP clients who might not be able to prepare meals for themselves. These states include California, Arizona, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, Maryland, and Rhode Island.

Despite vitamins, medicines, and supplements being ineligible SNAP items, there are drugstore chains that offer to accept SNAP benefits when procuring other items from their store.

SNAP Benefits Medicine Store

Items that can be bought in a drug store are considered to be eligible for SNAP benefits such as dairy products and other snack foods, despite not accepting payments for medicine, vitamins, and supplements.

Stores accepting SNAP payments through Electronic Benefits Transfer cards includes CVS stores, with over 9,000 branches of CVS offering meal essentials, healthy snacks, and other beverages, according to Go Banking Rates. However, SNAP benefits recipients cannot order and pay for the items online at CVS with their EBT cards.

Walgreens also offers the same service to SNAP beneficiaries. The drugstore chain also allows SNAP payments for SNAP-eligible items with the recipients' EBT cards. However, not all Walgreen locations accept SNAP benefits for payment and it is advised to call ahead to confirm.

Another drugstore chain accepting SNAP benefits is Rite Aid but does not also accept SNAP payments online. Rite Aid Customer Care suggests that customers call ahead to the store location to find out which locations offer SNAP EBT.

SNAP Benefits Update

SNAP benefits emergency allotments are coming to an end in March 2023 after the Consolidated Appropriations Act was recently passed by Congress, effectively halting the temporary funding.

Some states are ending the emergency allotments earlier such as the case in South Caroline, wherein SNAP benefits emergency allotments will be removed in February 2023.

South Carolina SNAP recipients will receive their normal benefits for all SNAP households.

In addition, their SNAP benefit may decrease due to their higher Social Security payments.

It is also possible that some SNAP households will no longer receive SNAP benefits due to the Social Security increase if their threshold reaches the limit of income eligibility.

Some states have already ended their SNAP benefits emergency allotments, such as Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Montana, Idaho, Tennessee, and Wyoming.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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