WASHINGTON – Some twelve percent of traditional Medicare beneficiaries have heart failure. Roughly a quarter have diabetes. There’s early evidence suggesting that both conditions — and a slew of others — could be better managed with pre-made healthy meals.
So why doesn’t Medicare try out delivering food to sick seniors?
The experiment would fit with the Biden administration’s larger push toward integrating so-called “food is medicine” interventions into traditional health care. Skeptics of the idea note that there’s still very little clinical research integrating food into medicine. But proponents say the early evidence shows the idea could both improve health care outcomes and save the healthcare system money overall. One study estimated that providing healthy prepared meals — commonly known as medically-tailored meals — in Medicare could save the program $3.4 billion in just one year.
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