Food Assistance

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides federal grants to states for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breast-feeding, and postpartum women; infants; and children up to age five who are at nutritional risk. GAO found that states had unspent WIC money for various reasons. In fiscal year 1996, these funds totaled $121.6 million, or about 3.3 percent of that year's $3.7 billion WIC grant. Virtually all the directors of local WIC agencies reported that their clinics had tried to improve the access of working women to WIC benefits. The two most frequently cited strategies were (1) scheduling appointments instead of taking participants on a first-come, first-served basis and (2) allowing someone other than the participant to pick up the food vouchers, as well as nutrition information, and pass these benefits on to the participant. States are using various cost-containment initiatives that have saved WIC millions of dollars each year and have enabled more people to participate in the program. Some of these initiatives include obtaining rebates on WIC foods, limiting participants' food choices to lowest cost items, and limiting the number of stores that participate in WIC.

GAO noted that: (1) states had unspent WIC funds for a variety of reasons; (2) in fiscal year 1996, these funds totalled about $121.6 million, or about 3.3 percent of that year's $3.7 billion WIC grant; (2) some of these reasons were associated with the way WIC is structured; (3) virtually all the directors of local WIC agencies report that their clinics have taken steps to improve access to WIC benefits for working women; (4) the two most frequently cited strategies are: (a) scheduling appointments instead of taking participants on a first-come, first-served basis; and (b) allowing a person other than the participant to pick up food vouchers or checks, as well as nutrition information, and to pass these benefits on to the participant; (5) the states are using a variety of cost containment initiatives that have saved millions of dollars annually for WIC and enabled more individuals to participate in the program; and (6) some of these initiatives include obtaining rebates on WIC foods, limiting participants' food choices to lowest-cost items, and limiting the number of stores that participate in WIC.