Across Wisconsin this summer, local Women, Infant and Children programs are rolling out new electronic benefit cards or eWIC for participants.
The Walworth County Public Health’s WIC program is set to roll out on July 29.
The statewide decision to implement eWIC comes from The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which was signed into law Dec. 13, 2010. The act expanded nutrition assistance programs, including WIC. It also orders that state WIC food benefits change from a paper-based benefit “check” to an electronic benefit card by Oct. 1, 2020.
About 1,450 local WIC participants are served each month by Walworth County’s WIC program and will be affected by the roll-out. The WIC program works to help to prevent obesity, one of the priority health areas that came out of the 2015 Walworth County Community Health Assessment, and provides information about ways families can incorporate healthy nutrition into their daily lifestyles.
WIC has been implemented in several states, with many other states also in the process of transitioning. States that have implemented eWIC noted several improvements to the WIC program, including:
- Elimination of paper checks has improved the shopping experience for WIC participants;
- Electronic approval of WIC items has improved the check-out experience for cashiers;
- Electronic payment processing has improved the reconciliation process for retail vendors;
- eWIC issuance of benefits has streamlined the process in the WIC clinic.
The local WIC program provides pregnant women, infants and children with time to talk with a WIC dietitian, support for breastfeeding, help monitoring healthy growth and development and assistance to buy healthy foods. More information about WIC can be obtained by calling (262) 741-3146 or by visiting the public health tab at co.walworth.wi.us.
