Instacart helps customers shop for healthy items with pre-tax dollars

A new Instacart service is aimed at customers who have federal Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and Health Savings Account (HSA) funds.

Each year, many U.S. households set aside pre-tax dollars with FSA and HSA plans to pay for health-related expenses or buy health items throughout the year. Every December, there is an end-of-year expiration to spend most (but not all) of these “use-it-or-lose-it” funds before they expire.

In an effort to help make shopping for FSA and HSA eligible items easier, Instacart has added two new in-app tools:

• FSA and HSA Pop-Up: Instacart is aggregating FSA- and HSA-eligible items across its marketplace into the “FSA & HSA Shop,” available on the Instacart homepage with all items delivered from our retail partners.
• FSA and HSA-Eligible Product Tags: Instacart is adding in-app labels to approximately 40,000 qualifying products to help shoppers more easily identify FSA- and HSA-eligible items as they shop on the Instacart platform. Consumers can search FSA or HSA in the search bar to populate a list of eligible products. 

Following checkout, customers can submit receipts of eligible purchased items to their benefit providers for reimbursement. Instacart does not currently accept FSA or HSA cards as payment methods.

Instacart offers health-driven shopping options
In September 2022, the on-demand delivery provider introduced Instacart Health, a new initiative designed to promote access to healthy grocery and produce items. Instacart Health includes new shopping tools, payment options, and collaborative healthcare initiatives.

Specific examples of Instacart Health features include shoppable carts curated by health influencers and experts; as well as digital pop-up aisles featuring healthy food choices such as a vegan aisle, and Fresh Funds, a new product that enables any organization - including non-profits, employers, insurance companies or health systems - to give people funds to buy nutritious food from grocery retailers on its platform.

[Read more: Instacart ups its game]

“At Instacart, we want everyone to have access to the food and products that help them thrive,” Sarah Mastrorocco VP and GM of Health for Instacart, said in a corporate blog post. “These new in-app features are an example of our Instacart Health initiative at work – technologies like product tags and health-focused Pop-Ups can make the shopping experience more seamless, convenient, and connected. We’re committed to continuously creating innovative solutions that help people more easily meet their personal health needs.”

Instacart partners with more than 900 national, regional, and local retail brands to facilitate online shopping, delivery and pickup services from more than 75,000 stores across more than 13,000 cities in North America on the Instacart Marketplace.