|
 |
|
WIC Eligibility Requirements
Applicants must meet
all of the following eligibility requirements:
- Categorical
- Residential
- Income
- Nutrition Risk
Categorical
Requirement
The WIC Program is designed to serve certain categories of women, infants, and
children. Therefore, the following individuals are considered categorically eligible
for WIC:
| Women |
-- pregnant (during pregnancy and up
to 6 weeks
after the birth of an infant or the end of the
pregnancy)
-- postpartum (up to six months after the birth of
the infant or the end of the pregnancy)
-- breastfeeding (up to the infant's first birthday) |
| Infants |
(up to the infant's first birthday) |
| Children |
(up to the child's fifth birthday) |
Residential
Requirement
Applicants must live in the State in which they apply. Applicants served in
areas where WIC is administered by an Indian Tribal Organization (ITO) must meet residency
requirements established by the ITO.
At State agency option, applicants may be required to live in a local service
area and
apply at a WIC clinic that serves that area.
Applicants are not required to live in the State or local service area for a certain
amount of time in order to meet the WIC residency requirement.
Income
Requirement
To be eligible for WIC, applicants must have income at or below an income level
or standard set by the State agency or be determined automatically income-eligible based
on participation in certain programs.
|
Income Standard |
The State agency's income standard must be between 100 percent of the Federal poverty
guidelines (issued each year by the Department of Health and Human Services), but cannot
be more than 185 percent of the Federal poverty income
guidelines. |
|
Automatic Income Eligibility |
Certain applicants can be determined income-eligible for WIC based on their
participation in certain programs. These included individuals: |
|
-- eligible to receive SNAP benefits, Medicaid, for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
(TANF, formerly known as AFDC, Aid to Families with Dependent Children), |
|
-- in which certain family members are eligible to receive Medicaid or
TANF, or |
|
-- at State agency option, individuals that are eligible to participate in certain other
State-administered programs. |
Nutrition
Risk Requirement
Applicants must be seen by a health professional such as a physician, nurse, or
nutritionist who must determine whether the individual is at nutrition risk. In many
cases, this is done in the WIC clinic at no cost to the applicant. However, this
information can be obtained from another health professional such as the applicant's
physician.
"Nutrition risk" means that an individual has medical-based or dietary-based
conditions. Examples of medical-based conditions include anemia (low blood levels),
underweight, or history of poor pregnancy outcome. A dietary-based condition
includes, for example, a poor diet.
At a minimum, the applicant's height and weight must be measured and bloodwork taken to
check for anemia.
An applicant must have at least one of the medical or dietary conditions on the State's
list of WIC nutrition risk criteria.
The WIC Prescreening Tool is a web-based application intended to
help potential WIC applicants determine if they are likely to be
eligible for WIC benefits. Users who are likely to be eligible
to receive WIC benefits are provided with State-specific contact
information and are encouraged to make a certification
appointment with their WIC local agencies. Additionally,
users are provided with a printable summary of their responses
and a list of examples of the documentation that is required at
an initial certification appointment.
Click here to
find out if you might be eligible for WIC benefits.
Back to the Top
Last modified 11/20/12
|
|
|
|
