Missouri upgrades system for public benefits program WIC to allow remote benefits loading

Missourians receiving federal food assistance for low-income women and children will face fewer administrative hurdles to get benefits after the state modernized its system. The Women, Infants and Children Program, known as WIC, for years required participants to physically visit an office to have their benefits loaded onto their cards—a requirement that sometimes hindered eligible Missourians from getting the food benefits at all. But now, the Department of Health and Senior Services has completed updates to allow participants to receive benefits remotely, transitioning to a system that has long been operated in nearly every other state. The new WIC card technology in Missouri, in effect as of May 1, “will improve the participants’ benefit issuance and redemption experience,” said Lisa Cox, spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, which operates the program. “So we anticipate that participants may remain enrolled in WIC for a longer time, which could increase participation.”