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Providers and researchers urge Medicaid support for produce prescriptions and 'food‑as‑medicine' pilots
Summary
Physicians, community health centers, university researchers and nonprofit advocates told the Human Services Committee that produce prescription and food‑as‑medicine programs improve diet, lower A1C and reduce costly hospital use, and urged Connecticut to pursue Medicaid waivers (HB 6101) to fund healthy‑food benefits tied to clinical care.
Community health centers, researchers and nonprofit food‑as‑medicine providers testified on Feb. 20 in favor of House Bill 6101, which would authorize Medicaid coverage of food‑as‑medicine interventions and expand access to farmers‑market WIC nutrition benefits. Witnesses described local pilots and national evidence showing produce prescriptions increase fruit and vegetable consumption, improve HbA1c among patients with prediabetes or diabetes, and can produce downstream savings through fewer emergency visits and avoidable complications.
Speakers included leaders of food‑as‑medicine initiatives at the Yale School of Public Health, the Community Alliance…
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