Food isn’t just fuel. It’s one of the most powerful tools we have to prevent and manage diet-related chronic conditions and help people live healthy, full lives. In North Carolina, where heart disease and diabetes remain the top causes of death, access to healthy food is still out of reach for many.
This isn’t just a public health issue. These diet-related chronic conditions are also among the highest cost drivers for health care in North Carolina. When people can’t access nutritious food, it contributes to chronic conditions that drive up medical costs and strain families, communities, and the health care system.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC) and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation (Blue Cross NC Foundation) are focused on trying to shift that reality. By investing in community-based programs that connect people with fresh, nutritious food, and integrating food into health care, their efforts are part of a growing movement called Food is Medicine, which recognizes that what people eat plays a critical role in their health and well-being.
Food is Medicine programs help individuals access healthy food to promote health and prevent and manage chronic conditions. These programs may include:
Programs are often delivered through partnerships between health care providers and community-based organizations. In North Carolina, local nonprofits, including nine Food is Medicine grantees supported by the Blue Cross NC Foundation, have played a leading role in designing programs rooted in community, building trust with participants, and sourcing food from nearby farms.
As an insurer, Blue Cross NC is developing innovative services to prevent and manage chronic conditions, helping members focus on their health and well-being. One example is the Feed Your Health program, which provides a combination of medically tailored meals, meal kits and groceries combined with nutrition support to commercially insured members with uncontrolled Type 2 diabetes. Participants experienced meaningful changes in overall well-being, including lower A1-C levels, greater food and nutrition security, and improved mental health.
Blue Cross NC recently introduced Health Through Food, a five-year initiative designed to reduce chronic conditions, improve health outcomes, and fight the rising costs of care across North Carolina by expanding access to nutritious food.
This initiative aligns with the goals of Healthy North Carolina 2030, which calls for increased access to healthy food statewide. Blue Cross NC aims to improve health through food by:
Diet-related chronic conditions are a leading cause of death and a major driver of health care costs in North Carolina, contributing to our state ranking among the most expensive for health care. By making healthy food more accessible and better integrated into care, Blue Cross NC and the Blue Cross NC Foundation aim to help North Carolinians live longer, healthier lives while improving health care affordability for all.
Read the full article in the NCMJ: Increasing Access to Healthy Food through Food is Medicine, 2020–2025: Blue Cross NC and the Blue Cross NC Foundation
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Written by Guest Authors
Lori Taylor
Health Through Food Director, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina
Merry Davis
Health Through Food Director, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation
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