The Surest Way to Cut the Cost of Healthcare? Pay for Healthy Food.

There’s a saying I come back to often: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” But when it comes to America’s healthcare system, we seem hellbent on doing the opposite. We spend billions treating diet-related diseases—diabetes, heart disease, hypertension—while letting food insecurity and poor nutrition fester in the background. The irony? The surest way to cut healthcare costs isn't a breakthrough drug or investing in a fancy hospital wing. It’s by paying for healthy food.

Food is Medicine—But We Don’t Treat it That Way

It’s not a radical idea. We’ve known for decades that what we eat directly impacts our health. Yet our systems continue to treat food and medicine as separate. The average doctor visit rarely includes a conversation about diet. Insurance won’t cover a bag of apples, but it will cover insulin.

Meanwhile, programs that do connect food and health—like produce Rx pilots, medically tailored meals, and fruit and veggie subsidies—are proving their worth. They improve health outcomes, reduce hospital visits, and, yes, save money. A 2023 study in JAMA Network Open found that scaling up produce prescription programs nationally could prevent 292,000 cardiovascular events and save nearly $40 billion in health care costs.

So what are we waiting for?

The Real Cost of Cheap Food

Here’s the catch: unhealthy food often looks cheaper up front. It’s fast, shelf-stable, and subsidized in ways that fresh produce isn’t. But its long-term cost—to our bodies and our public health systems—is staggering. In communities where fresh food is scarce and processed food is abundant, we see higher rates of obesity, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses. That’s not personal failure—it’s policy failure.

The U.S. spends more than $4.5 trillion annually on healthcare, with diet-related illnesses accounting for a massive portion. Meanwhile, the USDA’s entire budget for nutrition assistance—including SNAP, WIC, and school meals—is just a fraction of that. What if we shifted some of that spending upstream?

Invest in Local Food Now—Before It's Too Late

Supporting healthy food access isn’t just about nutrition—it’s about where that food comes from. Local food systems are our frontline defense against both hunger and chronic disease. When we invest in small farms, regional food hubs, and community-based markets, we’re not just feeding people—we’re building resilience, jobs, and better health outcomes right where they’re needed most.

But these systems are under strain. Small farmers face razor-thin margins. Climate change is reshaping growing seasons. Corporate consolidation has made it harder than ever for local producers to compete. If we don’t act now—through public investment, procurement reform, and incentives for local sourcing—we risk losing the very infrastructure that could make our food system work for health, not against it.

Imagine if schools, hospitals, and food pantries were reliably sourcing from neighborhood farms. If healthcare dollars flowed into community gardens and mobile markets. If public health strategy meant not just prescribing medication, but partnering with local growers. All of this is possible—but only if we fund it now.

A Better Way Forward

Imagine if Medicaid or Medicare covered CSA shares. If doctor’s offices partnered with farmers markets. If low-income families could swipe their benefits for local produce and be rewarded for it. Some places are already trying this—the Veggie Rx program at the Chicago Botanic Garden, for example, or California’s Medicaid pilot for medically supportive food. These models work. But they’re still the exception, not the rule.

If we’re serious about lowering healthcare costs, it’s time we treat food as foundational. That means investing in healthy food access the same way we invest in pharmaceuticals or emergency care. Because no matter how advanced our treatments get, we can’t medicate our way out of a broken food system.

Let’s fund food like our lives depend on it—because they do.