Healthy Foods for Better Health: Shapiro Administration Highlights Plan to Improve Medicaid Recipients’ Health Through Nutritious Meals | Department of Human Services |[...]

Governor Josh Shapiro's proposed 2026-27 budget invests in nutritious and medically tailored meals for Medicaid recipients with certain diet-sensitive chronic health conditions

Food is medicine programs like medically tailored meals improve health and reduce hospital stays, improving quality of life and reducing health care costs

Millvale, PA - Today, Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) Secretary Dr. Val Arkoosh emphasized the importance of thinking of food as medicine, and how Governor Josh Shapiro's 2026-27 Budget Proposal will invest $900,000 in state funding for a food is medicine pilot program, called Investments in Health. Through the pilot program, Medicaid recipients with certain diet-sensitive chronic health conditions will receive medically tailored meals that can improve health, reduce need for hospital stays and other costly interventions, and reduce health care spending.

"A person's ability to access fresh, healthy food is essential to their overall health and wellbeing. Pennsylvania has a unique opportunity right now to make strategic investments in proven prevention efforts that can help people be healthier, decrease health care costs, and reduce food insecurity in individuals with high-risk health conditions," said Secretary Arkoosh. "When we take a positive, proactive approach to improving people's health, we can improve both their quality of life and reduce health care costs by investing in less expensive, less invasive interventions like medically tailored meals; that is a win for everyone."

Food is medicine strategies have been found to significantly reduce hospital admissions for people with diet-sensitive conditions and reduce health care spending by an average of 16 percent. Currently, Medicaid managed care organizations that work with PA DHS work with community-based organizations to provide medically tailored meals on a limited basis. This proposed investment of state funds will expand this work, focusing on people with heart disease, diabetes (including gestational diabetes), end stage renal disease, and cancer patients actively receiving chemotherapy. With the investment of $900,000 in state funds, Pennsylvania would be able to leverage additional federal matching funds, which will bring total funding to $2.3 million.

Investments in Health will provide funding in three key areas:

• Food is Medicine: $900,000 in state funds to leverage federal investment for a total of $2.3 million to support a pilot program that will bring medically tailored meals to Medicaid recipients with diet-sensitive health conditions.

• Reentry Supports: $900,000 in state funds to leverage additional federal funding for a total of $2.7 million that will support pre-release Medicaid coverage for incarcerated individuals returning to their communities from State Correctional Institutions.

• Housing Stability: $1 million in state funding to leverage additional federal funding for a total of $2.5 million to launch a pilot that will help Pennsylvanians experiencing homelessness connect to stable housing and services.

Targeted budget investments in these proven services can improve people's health and quality of life, reduce health care costs and hospital visits, improve public safety, support economic and workforce development, and reduce recidivism.

"We're excited to welcome Secretary Arkoosh to the Good Food Project, where surplus food that could have gone to waste is instead transformed into nourishment for our communities," said 412 Food Rescue CEO Alyssa Cholodofsky. "We're driven by the belief that fresh, nutritious, and truly accessible food is a human right, and we look forward to discussing how to ensure that more Pennsylvanians enjoy that right."

412 Food Rescue is driven by the belief that good food belongs to people, not landfills. The organization launched in Pittsburgh, PA, in March 2015 to divert fresh food from going to waste by redirecting it to people facing food insecurity. Today, it is the largest volunteer food rescue organization in the country with a growing community of 26,000+ volunteers. 412 Food Rescue partners with other local nonprofits and advocacy organizations to help get fresh, healthy food to people at increased risk of health complications due to food insecurity. Last year, the organization worked with organizations and doulas in the surrounding area to bring nutritious food to parents who are recently postpartum, helping families eat and care for themselves during this critical time.

Building on Three Years of Progress

Under Governor Shapiro's leadership, his Administration has advanced initiatives to reduce hunger and expand access to nutritious food:

• Governor Shapiro's 2025-26 budget included a historic $11 million increase for food security, including $2 million for a new state Food Bucks program to supplement SNAP and $5 million in new funding to Pennsylvania food banks.

• Expanded universal free breakfast for 1.7 million students and free lunch for 22,000 students - serving nearly 93 million breakfasts last school year.

• Continued Summer EBT and increased State Food Purchase Program support for children and seniors.

• Filed a lawsuit against the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for unlawfully terminating the $13 million Local Food Purchasing Assistance (LFPA) Program, which supports 189 Pennsylvania farms and 14 food banks.

• Responded swiftly to the federal shutdown by signing a disaster declaration, directing $5 million to Feeding Pennsylvania's food bank network, and launching the SNAP Emergency Relief Fund, which has raised more than $2 million in private donations.

• Joined 24 other states and Washington, D.C. in successfully suing the Trump Administration for suspending SNAP payments and failing to use contingency funds approved by Congress.

• Continued the Fresh Food Financing Initiative to improve access to local food and support small businesses.

Read more about Governor Shapiro's 2026-27 Budget Proposal.