SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) – A new law called the “Food is Medicine” Act takes effect Friday, Aug. 28, establishing a program to help pay for nutritional food for people on Medicare and Medicaid.
The law shares its name with a program Ozarks Food Harvest launched earlier this year.
How the Ozarks Food Harvest program works
The Ozarks Food Harvest program is a free service for people 65 and older in the Ozarks. It applies to patients at health clinics including Jordan Valley, Springfield and Ozark community hospitals. The organization delivers boxes of ingredients to these clinics for older adults. The boxes include meals designed around chronic conditions.
“Food is such a basic need that it enables so many things,” said Jordan Browning of Ozarks Food Harvest. “And I think ‘Food is Medicine’ is one of those very positive things. Because like I said, it not only helps prevent, but it helps people manage those very common chronic diseases like hypertension, heart disease, or diabetes. And so it becomes essential that folks are able to access this nutrition to help with these things.”…