A Smarter Way to Cut Health Care Costs

So many of our family, friends, and neighbors struggle with chronic health challenges like diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. But when the doctor suggests healthy eating, the question for many becomes: “Do I buy those fresh vegetables or pay my utilities?”

Without access to affordable nutritious food, chronic conditions worsen, which means more emergency visits and hospital stays. In fact, limited access to healthy food is linked to roughly $1 billion each year in avoidable health care costs in Missouri.

That’s why state lawmakers are now looking into the possibility of a Food is Medicine Act for Missouri. The Act would allow Missouri to test using nutrition as part of health care through Medicaid.

National evidence shows this approach can reduce hospitalizations by more than 20 percent and emergency room visits by more than 10 percent. Evidence from smaller pilot programs in Missouri show similar promise. A number of “produce prescription” programs in the state have improved healthy food access and reduced costly complications like low-birthweight births.

What’s more: Another benefit of building healthy food into healthcare is the potential for Missouri farmers to grow their businesses in response; more fresh and healthy food from more local producers.

Imagine the day when it is easy to find and afford the fresh and healthy foods we all need to thrive. The Food is Medicine Act can help us get there. Two identical Food as Medicine Act bills before the Missouri Legislature are SB 1075 and HB 2355.

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Patty Cantrell is Outreach and Development Director at New Growth. 

New Growth is a nonprofit organization in west central Missouri working to build small businesses, small farms, and small-town opportunity. newgrowthmo.org

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References

Missouri Senate. (2024). Food Is Medicine Act. Missouri General Assembly. https://www.senate.mo.gov

Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. (2023). Obesity in Missouri. https://health.mo.gov/living/healthcondiseases/obesity/

Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. (2023). Missouri diabetes report. https://health.mo.gov/living/healthcondiseases/chronic/diabetes

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023). Missouri state health statistics. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/state-stats/states/mo.html‍

Feeding America. (2019). The healthcare costs of food in security in the United States. https://www.feedingamerica.org/research/healthcare-costs-food-insecurity

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