The Impact of Food Insecurity

Nutrition and Food is Medicine

Access to healthy food and improved health outcomes are linked. Learn more about the latest research and efforts to address food insecurity.

• Food Insecurity: Food prices and availability are top of mind for many Americans this holiday season, especially amid the recent uncertainty with Supplemental Food Assistance Program (SNAP) funding. In September 2025, the US Department of Agriculture announced it would no longer collect food insecurity data through the Household Food Insecurity Reports, ending nearly 30 years of annual, national tracking. Experts detail how food insecurity affects health across the lifespan and how policies can help improve access to nutritious meals.
• Grocery Supplemental Benefits and Preventive Care: A study from the Elevance Health Public Policy Institute, published in The American Journal of Managed Care, found that dual-eligible Medicare Advantage members who used the grocery card supplemental benefit were more likely to complete annual wellness visits, as well as primary care and specialist appointments.
• Healthy Food and Blood Pressure: A University of North Carolina Health study funded by Blue Cross NC and published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that offering monthly grocery cards for produce improved blood pressure more effectively than distributing pre-selected food boxes, showing that empowering choice supports better health outcomes.
• Food Is Medicine Summit: At the third annual Food Is Medicine National Summit hosted by Tufts University’s Food Is Medicine Institute, experts, policymakers, clinicians, and community leaders discussed the growing national movement linking nutrition and health, including recent studies highlighting how medically tailored meals and produce prescription programs can lead to reduced hospitalizations and ER visits, improved blood pressure and A1C control (a measure of blood sugar), and lower health care costs—up to $24 billion annually, according to some estimates.

Resources & Initiatives

• Feeding America can help you find a local food bank and opportunities to volunteer at your local food bank this holiday season.
• Learn more about efforts to address food insecurity at The University of Alabama, Towson University, California State University, Sacramento, and Virginia Commonwealth University.
• The American Public Health Association shared presentations on strategies to address food insecurity, including through social determinants of health, state policy action, workforce development, and health care initiatives.
• Florida Blue Foundation awarded $3 million in grants supporting eight community-based food programs across the state to reduce the burden of chronic health conditions and increase access to healthy food in rural communities. They also partnered with the Miami Marlins to host a drive-thru food distribution.
• Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM), United Dairy Industry of Michigan, Blue Cross Complete of Michigan, and the BCBSM Foundation are investing $273,000 to support local food pantries. BCBSM also details food facts that you may have heard but are not true.

Health Policy Watch

The state of SNAP and Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies.

• SNAP Funding Confusion: The longest government shutdown in US history has ended which means that full SNAP benefits can be restored nationwide, as soon as each state works through the chaos caused by the multiple court orders that blocked the payments during the shutdown. While approximately 37 states have paid full or partial benefits, an estimated 13 states may need up to 10 days to issue full payments. One in eight Americans (42 million people) use SNAP.
• Permanent SNAP Cuts: While the shutdown’s impact on SNAP is temporary, in July the Trump administration cut $186 billion from the program, through new eligibility requirements, cuts to state funding, and other measures. Food bank operators around the country explain that the cuts, along with increased demand and higher food prices, will force them to reduce the support they provide.
• ACA Premiums Rise: The ACA’s Open Enrollment period began on November 1 for roughly 24 million consumers with significant increases in premiums in place as pandemic-era subsidies expire. A vote on possibly lowering premiums will be held in December. The subsidies make ACA plans more affordable for 92% of enrollees.
• Understanding Medicare Enrollment: Medicare's Open Enrollment period runs from October 15 to December 7, 2025. KFF outlines what applicants need to know about the process.

Health Industry News

Explore the latest in GLP-1 weight loss drugs:

• New Deal: The Trump administration announced an agreement to expand access to popular obesity medications produced by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, increasing coverage for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries and reducing prices.
• GLP-1s and Reduction in Obesity Rate: A new Gallup poll found that the US adult obesity rate declined to 37% in 2025, a significant drop from a record high of 39.9% in 2022, a change that correlates with a sharp increase in the use of GLP-1 weight loss medications.
• Microdosing Weight Loss Drugs: Noom, Found, and Hims & Hers all recently launched programs to prescribe microdosed GLP-1s, but physicians and researchers say there is no strong clinical evidence that GLP-1s are effective in such small doses.
• Employer Perspective on GLP-1s: The Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker released a brief outlining perspectives from employers on the costs and issues associated with covering GLP-1 agonists for weight loss.

Review new cybersecurity toolkits and 2025 assessments:

• Risk Toolkit: The Health Sector Coordinating Council released its Sector Mapping and Risk Toolkit, which provides templates and a methodology to help providers and other health industry organizations visualize, identify, and measure systemic risk posed by third party technology, software, and communications services.
• 2025 Review: The American Hospital Association released their 2025 Cybersecurity Year in Review, including Part 1 on breaches and defensive measures, and Part 2 on mitigating third-party risk, ensuring clinical continuity and addressing artificial intelligence (AI) risk.

The latest on marketplace insurance and a 340B pilot program:

• Insurance Coverage for Parents and Children: A new analysis from Urban Institute researchers finds that Marketplace plans are now a critical part of the health insurance landscape for families with children, and reliance on Marketplace coverage among parents increased more in Medicaid nonexpansion states than in expansion states.
• 340B Drug Rebates: The Trump administration released a slate of pharmaceuticals to be included in its 340B Drug Pricing Program rebate pilot, scheduled to begin on January 1 and run for at least a year. Under 340B, safety-net providers pay 25-50% less for prescription medications. In this pilot program, drugmakers will be allowed to pay rebates after purchase to qualifying providers, rather than discounting prices upfront.

Public Health Roundup

Research on maternal health:

• Rise in C-Sections: New reporting from the New York Times explores what is driving the rise in cesarean sections performed in the US, including round-the-clock fetal monitoring, and how this may be driving the rise of placenta accreta.
• Doulas: A new scoping review in npj Women's Health examines the body of research on the impact of doulas, finding that doula support improves birth delivery outcomes by reducing cesarean rates, preterm births, duration of labor, and pain.

News and initiatives on rural health:

• New Coalition: The application window for the Rural Health Transformation Fund closed last week. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will announce which states have been awarded funding by December 31, 2025. Lumeris, in partnership with several technology and consulting organizations, launched the Collaborative for Healthy Rural America, to help state leaders improve their CMS Rural Health Transformation Program initiatives using AI.
• HHS Staff Recalled: The Department of Health and Human Services is delegating some recalled, furloughed staffers to process applications for the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program.
• Payer Perspective on Transforming Health: Tunde Sotunde, President and CEO of Blue Cross NC, wrote an article on reimagining rural health.

Updates on opioids:

• Dangerous New Opioid: A new class of synthetic opioids, Nitazenes, can be up to 25 times more potent than fentanyl and hundreds of times stronger than heroin, and are increasingly involved in US deaths, worrying researchers and health professionals.
• Harm Reduction: New research published in The Journal of Rural Health illustrates the role that community pharmacists’ can play in successfully engaging in opioid harm reduction in both rural and urban settings.
• Settlement Funds: A new KFF Health News investigation found that in 2024, more than $61 million of opioid settlement money was used to fund law enforcement.

Trends in cancer rates and care:

• Smoking Deaths: Tobacco continues to be the leading preventable cause of cancer death in the US, according to the American Cancer Society, despite the significant decline in smoking rates over the decades.
• Colon Cancer: Colon cancer screening rates for those ages 45 to 49 have increased nearly tenfold since guidelines were changed to recommend that average-risk adults begin screening at age 45.
• Colon Cancer Treatment: New research in Nature Medicine indicates that circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) shed by colon cancers may help personalize postsurgical treatment, leading to improved disease management and quality of life for patients.