Supplemental benefits in Medicare Advantage have long been framed as useful for member satisfaction and retention, but peripheral to the core work of managing utilization and cost. This is now changing.
In their paper “Early Dual-Eligible Beneficiaries’ Grocery Supplemental Benefits “, Cobb, Cullen, and Nguyen Locke place grocery benefits in a broader evolution of supplemental MA benefits. They note that the “2019 and 2020 policy changes allowing MA plans to offer nonmedical supplemental benefits, such as grocery cards, have had encouraging results for MA members—particularly for dual-eligible members, who may have greater needs than their non–dual-eligible counterparts”.
We’re pleased to see the research support what we’ve known for years; food insecurity and related social conditions are linked to healthcare utilization patterns and outcomes. Medicare has figured this out– it’s time for Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MCO) and Commercial plan designers to include food insecurity remedies in their benefit designs.
Cobb et. al’s findings affirm the recent trends that social determinants of health, like healthy food benefits, are a powerful lever for managing costs in medically complex groups. Even modest shifts in engagement can move the needle for plan performance and risk management. Furthermore, the research showed that grocery benefits can drive members to engage more consistently with primary care, specialist visits, and preventive services (Cobb et.al, 3).
By contrast, recent evidence from dual-eligible populations suggests that benefits addressing everyday access barriers — such as grocery assistance — do more than improve quality of life. Cobb et. al report that grocery benefit users had higher likelihoods of wellness visits, primary care encounters, and specialist visits compared with nonusers. Food insecurity is associated with delayed care and reduced preventive utilization.
This isn’t simply a problem to be solved on paper; benefits need to be used in order to work. Knowing that, MA benefit designers have already started to use healthy foods as a lever to impact healthy outcomes.
For plan designers and administrators, this reframes the role of supplemental benefits like healthy food.
From a consumer perspective this makes sense - a person in food insecurity will eat whatever is available and affordable. Often these are foods high in salt, sugar, and other preservatives. There’s little point in seeing a primary care physician only to be given unactionable advice. When the options are “high salt & sugar or nothing”, ‘nothing’ is not an option. Inevitably this worsens that person’s overall health. Without intervention, that person will inevitably rely on high-cost, emergency health services.
It’s easy to sit back and blame poor individual choices and therefore dismiss the problem. But these are parents, children, and members of their communities, all of whom are enduring their own individual circumstances - and we know that healthy food can help. In environments with food deserts, localized pollution, or economic blight, the data is clear - food benefits in health plan design keeps people healthier for longer. Including food benefits is not only the smart and effective thing to do, but the right thing to do as well.
Benefits that reduce everyday access barriers should be evaluated as part of utilization and risk-management strategy, not treated as peripheral member perks.
When designing or renewing benefits, leaders can create more effective benefits by changing how members engage with care. Grocery benefits are one of the strongest levers in a policy maker’s toolbox. There are deep implications for management, outreach, and engagement initiatives in strategic planning beyond Medicare and Medicaid. In an economy with increasing food inflation, benefit holders will be more sensitive to incentives when backed by food - whether for ensuring yearly checkups or encouraging other healthy habits.
We anticipate that judicious benefit designers will increasingly consider these implications going forward.
Sources:
Rebecca Cobb, MS , Daniel Cullen, PhD , Michelle Nguyen Locke, MPH. “Early Dual-Eligible Beneficiaries’ Grocery Supplemental Benefits”, October 2025, “The American Journal of Managed Care Online Early | Volume 31
Employer-sponsored insurance covers the majority of working Americans, and employers collectively spend roughly $1 trillion each year on health benefits. Yet recent data from Morgan Heath suggests that coverage alone does not guarantee consistent access to the conditions that support good health.
Of particular note is rising food insecurity among people with Employer Sponsored Insurances [ESI]. Sharply rising food costs are among Americans’ top concerns. Among individuals with employer-sponsored insurance, the share reporting food insecurity rose from 5.9% in 2021 to 8.5% in 2022, remaining elevated through 2023. (Source: Morgan Health, Food Insecurity Trends in Employer-Sponsored Insurance, 2026). That’s a 60% increase in just one year. Undoubtedly this was due to the economic shocks from the Covid-19 pandemic, but markets are still enduring high prices for many pantry staples. Long-standing advice on budgeting, meal-prep, and reducing waste are no longer providing their leverage; those who work increasingly can no longer afford to eat.
As employers evaluate how to improve workforce health outcomes, new policy innovations are needed to ensure that insured workers are able to maintain the health and well-being of both themselves and their families, with the expansion of ESI programs to include healthy grocery benefits.
In many cases the issue is not simply access to food, but access to balanced meals. Households with children are particularly affected. Moderate-income families earning between $75,000 and $100,000 reported food insecurity rates ranging from 12% to 16% in some cases. (Source: Morgan Health, Food Insecurity Trends in Employer-Sponsored Insurance, 2026)
These are salary ranges for some of our nation’s most critical positions, including teachers, nurses, and so on.
Food insecurity can influence both health outcomes and health care utilization. Individuals experiencing high levels of food insecurity report greater difficulty affording prescriptions and are more likely to rely on emergency services. One analysis found that 43% of individuals experiencing high food insecurity reported an emergency room visit in the prior year, compared with 17% of food-secure individuals. (Source: Morgan Health, Food Insecurity Trends in Employer-Sponsored Insurance, 2026). The data is patently clear; when basic health maintenance is out of reach for want of food, emergency services (and their requisite expenses) fill the gap. The consequences of chronic disease and their complications no longer simply afflict the poor and vulnerable, but now increasingly afflict America’s most productive workers.
As these trends become more visible, Morgan Health identifies ways employers are exploring new ways to support employee health:
- Medically tailored meals or produce vouchers
- Nutrition education programs
- Improved care navigation for mental health services
- Expanded maternal care support models
- Adjustments to employee premiums and cost-sharing
We’re pleased to see examples of how ESI may evolve to tackle this growing challenge, but this is only the beginning. These efforts recognize that workforce health is shaped by both medical care and the conditions that support healthy living. An insistence on simply "tightening the belts” will be sufficient to endure through these challenges. At a time when our families are under greater economic pressure than ever, "the only correct choice is to go hungry” cannot be an acceptable solution. Quite frankly, hunger should not be a problem that Americans face. We should hold with deep skepticism any policies or trains-of-thought that limit American families' fight against hunger.
By examining these factors alongside traditional benefits, employers can strengthen workforce health while improving the long-term effectiveness of their health plans. Implementing expanded healthy grocery programs offers immediate relief against hunger, while increasing access to care, boosting affordability, and improving healthy outcomes.
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