Can You Use Wic Out of State on Vacation?

There are many benefits to using the WIC food program.! The most important benefit is that WIC provides nutritious foods to pregnant women, infants, boys and girls ages 0-5 years old who may not otherwise have easy access to healthy food. WIC also helps to support a healthy weight in children and helps parents achieve their nutritional goals. In addition, WIC can help with: poor breastfeeding outcomes; early childhood obesity; inadequate growth in young children; and other chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

The pros of WIC include that it reduces fetal deaths, infant mortality, low birthweight rates, and iron deficiency anemia. The cons of WIC include that it may be expensive, and there is some limited evidence that it does not always improve the nutritional status of at-risk infants and children.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, also called WIC) is a federal food assistance program that provides nutrients and benefits to pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, infants and children up to age 5 who are at risk of development challenges due to poverty or other factors.

A study that compared siblings of WIC participants with siblings of control participants found no difference in access to health care between them. If, however, all children in a family benefit when one child gains access to health care, these estimates could underestimate WIC’s true impact on health care utilization.

The Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program is a federal program that provides nutritious foods to supplement diets of low-income pregnant women, new mothers, infants and young children up to age 5 years. In addition, WIC provides information on healthy eating and referrals to health care. How does WIC work? Participating farmers and food service operators receive Foods for Special Supplemental Nutrition Programs – Women, Infants and Children (WIC) dollars in exchange for distributing WIC foods. These providers can use these funds to purchase specialized foods or ingredients that are not commonly found in grocery stores for general sale, such as whole grain breads and cereals, fresh fruit and vegetables, milk products including yogurt, cheese and cottage cheese, eggs, meats and poultry products.