Monday Morning Quarterback – US Health, Food Is Medicine, HSA, and Grocery Reward Apps

Piggybacking on Ellen Brown 's “Spitball Sunday”, this is another mashup like another article I wrote a few weeks ago - The Present Value of Food.

I am calling this “Monday Morning Quarterback”, as I may be unfairly "spitballing" a concept that may or may not already be in the works.? If this concept is underway, share it with the rest of us!

This mashup involves Health Savings Accounts (HSA), Food Is Medicine and cashback apps for groceries all in one employer-wellness HSA card.

Current State of US Health

After doing a deep dive into the Current State of US Health, it became evident that our food system, eating habits, and physical inactivity are leading to obesity, chronic illness, and a truncated lifespan relative to all peer nations.?

As I mentioned in this commentary Human Innovation outpacing Human Biological Evolution, the human body was designed 300,000 years ago and built for scarcity.? Fast forward to today, we live in an age of abundance and our bodies are telling us that it is working beyond its physical and biological processing capacity.

In fact, Swiss Re reports on Metabolic Health found that only 6.8% of the US adults meet the definition of optimal metabolic health. Furthermore from Swiss Re, the largest contributor is nutrition, particularly the global consumption of refined starches and sugar, and the frequency with which they’re consumed.

Robert Lustig details metabolic syndrome in great detail with his LinkedIn posts for further reference.

Transitioning from Sick Care to Preventative Care

The United States has lost the battle of the sick care model - too costly and results are unremarkable relative to peer nations.? Unfortunately, moving to a preventative care model will be a very lengthy process to see the results. ?

The centerpiece to preventative care model would be that in primary care where they account for nearly half of all physician office visits — but accounts for less than 5% of all health care spending, per the image below.

For decades, the United States has underinvested in primary care; where we spend only 5 to 7 cents of every health care dollar on it, versus 12 to 15 cents per dollar in most other high-income countries. But there is some hope, as some states are attempting to shift focus onto primary care to improve health for their constituents while saving money.

Unfortunately, my belief is that a shift to more funding for primary care cannot be the silver-bullet solution to get Americans back to a better state of health. Americans eating and lifestyle habits are so entrenched that increasing primary care visits from annual to semi-annual or additional hand-holding will not be sufficient.

Where to Start - Employer Sponsored Insurance and Wellness Programs

In my opinion, the likely place where a real difference in America’s health will come from employee wellness programs.? According to KFF, 164.7 million or 60.4% of people under age 65 had employment-sponsored health insurance in 2023.? It is in employers, employees and every citizen in the United States best interest is to improve the health of the nation.? With escalating costs of healthcare insurance, this is the best place to see a change that would have impact.

How can we get healthier through employment-sponsored health insurance??

Here is my Spitball Concept

First, I would like to see TrueFood or another standard to be developed by "Food Is Medicine" proponents ( KFF The Commonwealth Fund Milken Institute Center for Science in the Public Interest Tufts University ). This would be in the form of a Food Is Medicine certification or grade that could be a label on food.? Yes, this is an ambitious and daunting concept, but we are just spitballing here. The below infographic from 美国北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校 Global Food Research Program details all of the labeling that is occurring globally.

Second, if we have an established Food Is Medicine label, there could be incentive programs within employment-sponsored wellness programs toward healthy food purchases.? There are already programs for smoking cessation, weight watchers and biometric testing, why not an incentive program for healthy eating?? Does this exist in employer-sponsored insurance? If so, how prominent is this?

Third, there is likely a push in this space already, but Healthcare Saving Account (HSA) for Food Is Medicine.? Similar to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has restrictions on certain purchases, would like to see HSA and wellness benefit programs to allow employees to make purchases of healthy foods through this account. ?

Fourth, the data wrapper to first three spitball concepts would be a private partnership with Shopkick by Trax / Ibotta / Kroger / Elevance Health , who can help track grocery purchases of Food Is Medicine while incorporating into HSA program. By doing so, employers could offer annual insurance discounts through this program.

Tagging a few for reach and to see if this spitball is already in the works.

Peter Cranstone Jonathan Weiner Giulia Menichetti Dariush Mozaffarian Simon Jenkinson Nick Bellanca, SHRM-SCP, GBDS Jane Peterson Ellen Brown Erin W. Martin Katie Stebbins Carter Williams Kofi Essel, MD, MPH, FAAP Greater Cincinnati Employers Group on Health Adam Melonas Chérie St. Arnauld Jason Gootman, MS, NBC-HWC Jenna Yoho Acklin Christo B. Vermeulen RPh, MBA

#healthcare #medicine #health #future #foodasmedicine #healthyfood #nutrition #healthyeating

Joseph W. Sunderman is an Intelligence Analyst/Strategist that is a student of understanding the Current State of the US Health and its impact for the next decade. I developed the thesis over several months for Directions Research Group, which can be found in my project section of my LinkedIn page.

?In the past, Joe spent seven years at medical device giant Ethicon (division of Johnson & Johnson) with the most recent role as US Regional Manager of Strategic Insights and Pricing.? In his seven years at JNJ, he received recognition for his servant leadership, where he was a stand out in performance by being a top 10% recipient of Encore and Inspire Awards over multiple years.? Dozens and dozens of accolades from contributors to senior leaders for his collaborative work.? Prior to Ethicon, Joe has had a wide variety of experiences in medical claims, banking, publishing, and retail.? He began his career at Schaeffer's Investment Research as a financial analyst, where he was ranked by Bridge Information Systems as one of the top 10 market analysts for three straight years for his commentary and stock picks found in Schaeffer's Daily Bulletin. Joe has been published in the Market Pulse Journal and Chartpoint and his market comments have been printed in the USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Investor's Business Daily, Dow Jones News Wire, and Reuters. Also, Joe has made appearances on Bloomberg television.