Starting in August, people in northern Illinois and northwest Indiana who are enrolled in a UnitedHealthcare fully insured employer-sponsored health plan or purchased health insurance on the individual exchange will be able to buy healthier foods at discounted prices through its Healthy Savings™ pilot program.

Healthy Savings provides potential monthly savings of $150 on prequalified healthy foods from more than 140 food and beverage brands. Eligible UnitedHealthcare plan participants will receive a Healthy Savings card in the mail. After the card is activated online at www.HealthySavingsUHC.com, participants can shop for promoted healthy foods and scan their card during checkout at 184 Jewel-Osco®, 32 Mariano’s™ and 45 Shop ‘n Save® locations throughout Illinois and northwest Indiana. Forty-four County Market® stores will be added in the fall. The Healthy Savings website and mobile app enables shoppers to find nearby participating grocery stores, track accumulated savings through the program, view health information on serving sizes and portions, create a shopping list, and find recipes using healthy and nutritious ingredients.

Promotional discounts are offered weekly on products that are in the healthiest one-third of items in a typical grocery store. Healthy Savings offers include discounts on items such as milk, whole-grain bread, lean meats, yogurt and produce. The food items are scored by the nationally renowned Guiding Stars® nutrition guidance system, which rates the nutritional density of foods using information from the nutrition facts label and the ingredients list.