A healthy diet can be difficult to maintain when nutritious food is not consistently within reach.

Across the United States, nearly 34 million people experience food insecurity at some point during the year¹ — including 12.7% of households in Missouri² — and lower levels of food security have been closely linked to a greater prevalence of chronic diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), hypertension, diabetes, asthma and arthritis.³

For people managing diabetes, food insecurity can create additional barriers to following treatment plans and is associated with lower medication adherence and increased stress, depression and anxiety. People experiencing food insecurity can also face difficult trade-offs between paying for food and other necessities, including medications and medical care.⁴

To help address these challenges, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Missouri has invested $500,000 across five organizations that have developed practical, local initiatives to strengthen food security by integrating nutritious food into clinical care and expanding access in communities where healthy options may be limited.

Bringing food and health care together

Food-as-medicine approaches bring food support into the broader care model, connecting people with nutritious food alongside the clinical services and other resources they need. For providers, this creates an opportunity to address food insecurity as part of a more integrated approach to care.

To help integrate food-as-medicine approaches into patient care in Missouri, UnitedHealthcare has supported two local organizations that are taking practical, community-focused approaches to promote greater food choice and healthier eating habits.

Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center

The Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center's food-as-medicine program created a grocery-style prescriptive produce market, giving eligible patients an alternative to receiving prepackaged boxes.

Through a points-based budget, patients can select foods that meet their nutritional, cultural and family needs. The model is designed to provide greater choice, promote dignity, increase patient engagement and encourage healthier eating.

The market is expected to serve at least 150 food-insecure households in its first six months, increase fresh produce consumption and improve key health indicators. Kanbe's Market, a local non-profit organization, serves as a key provider of fruits, vegetables and nutritious food for patients at the health center.

Improving food access in Missouri

Across Missouri, the factors that contribute to food insecurity often vary based on individual circumstances and where people live. Some communities may face limited grocery options or distribution challenges, while others may have nutritious food available but struggle with affordability or transportation barriers.

To help address these needs, UnitedHealthcare is supporting organizations with established programs that aim to redistribute food that might otherwise go to waste, deliver food directly to underserved communities and provide free prepared meals.

Kanbe’s Market

Through a community-focused model that redirects "rescued" produce that was bound for a landfill, Kanbe's Market feeds more than 300,000 people each year in the Kansas City area.

Continuing a partnership that dates back to 2021, UnitedHealthcare recently provided support to help Kanbe's Market expand its operating hours. This latest collaboration builds on the Missouri health plan’s 2025 initiative to integrate Kanbe's Market into the UCard healthy food benefit network, which allows eligible Dual Eligible Special Needs Plan (D-SNP) members to use their food benefits at Kanbe's Healthy Corner Stores.

Together, these investments are supporting Kanbe’s mission to provide more nutritious food to the local community and transform food loss into food access.

Southeast Missouri Food Bank

UnitedHealthcare's investment in Southeast Missouri Food Bank’s Just-in-Time Delivery Program is helping expand access to fresh, nutritious food for rural communities where transportation and limited grocery options are barriers.

The support will fund a refrigerated sprinter van that enables more frequent deliveries to smaller communities and local food pantries. The program aims to deliver up to 100,000 pounds of nutritious food over six months, reaching around 5,000 people in 25 communities.

YMCA Fair Acres

Each year, the Fair Acres Family YMCA provides around 40,000 free meals to children in Jasper County through a feeding program that offers dinner weekdays to anyone under 18 years old.

With support from UnitedHealthcare, Fair Acres was able to extend this service to include adults, helping to ensure the parents and guardians of children who regularly benefit from the program receive nutritious meals as well.

Building healthier communities through local partnerships

Food insecurity is closely connected to health, but there is no single approach to addressing it. Effective solutions depend on understanding the needs of individual communities and working with organizations that already have the relationships, knowledge and infrastructure to reach the people who live there.

For UnitedHealthcare, that means looking beyond traditional health care settings and investing in partnerships that address barriers to health where they occur. By working alongside local organizations and connecting food access more closely with health care, we can continue building on what works and identifying opportunities to support better health outcomes.

Read more about nutrition and health outcomes:

• Nutrition as intervention: Advancing food is medicine for chronic disease management