The United States has the lowest life expectancy and the highest rate of chronic disease in the developed world, yet we spend more on healthcare than any other high-income country. But what if we are looking in the wrong places? The answer to our ballooning costs and declining life expectancy is not to be found in our medicine cabinets, but in our refrigerators.
Enter the Food Is Medicine movement, which holds that changing a patient's diet to address underlying health issues can manage a host of chronic diseases better than most pharmaceuticals on the market. Medically tailored meals have the potential to change millions of lives -- and save the U.S. billions of dollars annually in health care spending. Chronic diseases account for 1.7 million deaths annually in the U.S., or 7 out of every 10 deaths; 90 percent of the $4.3 trillion the U.S. spends on health care annually is for people with chronic and/or mental health conditions.
Medically tailored meals are the missing ingredient to improve outcomes and cut spending. The data shows that for every dollar spent on healthy food, up to $3 is saved in healthcare costs. Tufts University researchers found that prescribing medically tailored meals to 6.5 million Americans could save $13.6 billion a year and prevent up to 1.6 million hospitalizations annually, generating roughly $2,200 in net savings per recipient per year. In context, the gross profit of an insurance company per member maxes out at roughly $1,730 per year and can be as low as $689, which means covering medically tailored meals could save insurance companies more than three times their current annual gross profit per member.
The math may seem simple, but adopting the Food Is Medicine lifestyle is challenging for the average American, particularly those with the highest risk from chronic disease. Around 23.5 million Americans live in a food desert, an area with limited access to nutritious, affordable foods. Many of us are reliant on the highly-processed foods that became commonplace after World War II and have lost the ability to shop for and cook healthy meals.
It's still important for patients to learn how to maintain a healthy diet from their healthcare professionals. However, a long education period should not be a prerequisite for treating a disease that requires immediate action. Medically tailored meals allow for immediate progress by taking the guesswork out of healthy eating. Patients can order meals based on their taste preferences and health issues and receive meals at their doorstep with zero prerequisite knowledge. And to ensure adoption, medically tailored meals must emphasize that food comes first in the application of Food Is Medicine; patients must like the taste, which is why the best companies have gourmet chefs assist medical professionals in creating the meals.
Professional athletes, including my business partners MLB Hall of Famers Nolan Ryan, David Ortiz, and Barry Larkin, have used tailored meals to stay healthy and enhance their athletic performance throughout their entire careers, albeit with the help of a professional chef or team nutritionist. While most Americans don't have the resources for private chefs, they can still reap the benefits of chef-created, ready-to-eat meals that target their health concerns.
Major payers -- insurance companies, employers, and government programs -- are beginning to cover chronic disease meal programs voluntarily because they are lower cost than many other solutions on the market and provide better health outcomes. For instance, popular weight loss drugs dominating the headlines cost an average of $1,000 per month. That's enough to pay for every medically tailored meal, every day for the entire year for that individual, and still have plenty left over.
Many Medicare Advantage plans have already begun providing medically tailored meals for their senior members. In California, Arkansas, Massachusetts, and Oregon, Medicaid participants can use their benefits for food and nutrition services.
As more payers recognize the efficacy of medically tailored meals in improving health outcomes and reducing costs, they are beginning to cover the meals on a larger scale, and in turn, improve outcomes in our current healthcare system.
Thanks to the Food Is Medicine movement's undeniable math, Congress has begun to discuss the issue of funding medically tailored meals. This year, the Senate introduced the bipartisan Medically Tailored Home-Delivered Meals Demonstration Act, legislation that would help cover healthy meals for seniors.
We're moving in the right direction, but lawmakers and payers must stay focused. The 60% of U.S. adults who have a chronic disease deserve the most tailored care possible -- care that attacks the underlying issue, not just the symptoms. Financially, covering medically tailored meals is the type of math that just makes sense.
Mark Walker serves as Chief Executive Officer & Chairman at Performance Kitchen. He also serves as Chairman & Managing Director at the athlete-based investment firm, Dugout Ventures.
