(Ezekiel Loseke, Headline USA) The Biden administration is now letting states use federal Medicaid funds in order to enable people to buy food amid soaring inflation.
The move is intended to augment social and economic welfare programs under the guise of “food as medicine,” highlighting the health benefits of having enough to eat, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Funds can cover the cost of specialized meals for inpatients or allow people to purchase healthier foods instead of junk food.
The new policy through the Department of Health and Human Services mirrors a recent plan by the Department of Agriculture to spend $25 million promoting healthy eating habits among food-stamp recipients by incentivizing the purchase of fruits and vegetables.
However, HHS’s expanded programs are not limited to food. Indeed, Medicaid now pays for air conditioners, six months of rent and air-filtration devices.
The United States Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved such a program for Arkansas in November, earmarking $85 million in Medicaid funds for food. Oregon and Massachusetts received similar funding last year.
Rachel Nuzum, a senior vice president for federal and state health policy at the Commonwealth Fund, addressed Biden’s approval of using health-care funds as de-facto food stamps.
“This is something that is building momentum,” she said.
However, Gary D. Alexander, head of the Medicaid and Health Safety Net Initiative for Paragon Health Institute, expressed concern over the move.
“This is really the first I’ve seen the federal government push food and air conditioners and other things as allowable,” he said.
“We already have the SNAP program,” he continued. “It seems like it’s blurring the lines,”
Still, some say the program has merit.
According to the American Society for Nutrition, “Evidence suggests food as medicine can work,” Breitbart reported.
Meanwhile the state expenditures on Medicaid are ballooning out of control.
