Food insecurity is a serious problem plaguing the United States, and despite government efforts to alleviate hunger, many people, including older adults living at home, can fall through the cracks. Mom’s Meals, a meal delivery service located in all 50 states, aims to serve as a safety net for these at-risk populations through its Hunger Challenge initiative, which promises to donate 30,000 medically tailored meals.
Mom’s Meals works with thousands of case managers, including those in the Medicaid program, who identify individuals who are on waiting lists or are not eligible for assistance, Chief Executive Officer Chris Choi told McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse.
“They will often refer those clients to us and then we will try to serve as many of those as we can based on the level of their need and at least to help them bridge this current difficult time of food insecurity until they’re able to get access to better food and nutrition resources,” Choi said. “These are largely the elderly, disabled populations, individuals who lack active functionality in terms of daily living and so our home delivered meals play a really important role in helping them stay independent in their homes and not have to transition to a nursing home or institutional facility.”
Older adults are particularly at risk of food insecurity. Food and produce continues to be the biggest nonmedical supplemental benefit in Medicare Advantage. A total of 1,475 MA plans offer this benefit this year. Part of the challenge is putting a spotlight on food insecurity and making sure it has a spot on the government agenda. More awareness of the issue will lead to more solutions from both the private and public sector, Choi said.
“Private-public partnerships are really critical for this,” Choi said. “We’re trying to work more closely with government leaders who are responsible for policy and providing more coverage and access to more populations for the nutrition they need.”
Mom’s Meals, a private-sector company, is committed to increasing the number of meal contributions in the future.
“The 30,000 meals that we’re committed to donating this year is more than double what we did last year,” he said.
Access to proper nutrition is not only beneficial on the individual level but also benefits society at large, especially the healthcare system, Choi said. Mom’s Meals has always believed in the concept of “food is medicine,” he noted.
“Diet-related diseases are the number one cause of death as well as cost in our healthcare system,” he said. “But when you pair that with more recognition of how large the food insecurity problem is and how little access so many of our populations have to not just food and calories but also good nutrition, that’s going to help support their health and well-being. I think it really underscores the importance of addressing that through bringing down some of those barriers.”
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