For 25 years, I have stood at the bedside of patients, navigating the complexities of our healthcare system. I have seen the miracles of modern medicine, but I have also seen its glaring failures. We have built a system that is exceptional at treating acute illness yet woefully inadequate at preventing it.
That is why CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz’s recent comments regarding Medicare Advantage and healthy food are a necessary step in the fight for a health revolution.
At a recent press conference, Dr. Oz announced that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will move to reward healthcare providers for discussing whole-body health and healthy foods with their patients. He highlighted the progress of the Make America Healthy Again movement, noting that the federal government is recognizing its power as a buyer to incentivize MA plans that provide healthy food options to treat and prevent chronic illnesses.
For too long, Washington has viewed health policy through the cold lens of actuarial tables and fee-for-service codes. If a doctor spends 15 minutes explaining to a patient how reducing sugar intake can save their foot from amputation, the system barely registers the effort. But if that same doctor performs a procedure to amputate the foot later, the reimbursement is immediate and substantial. Dr. Oz is signaling that those days are outdated.
Medicare Advantage (MA) is a key vehicle capable of driving this transformation. Unlike traditional Medicare, which is often bound by rigid limitations on what it can cover, Medicare Advantage plans have the flexibility to look at a patient holistically. MA can offer gym memberships, coordinate transportation to appointments, and, crucially, provide access to nutritious food.
When Dr. Oz talks about using these plans to treat chronic illness through diet, he is speaking a language that resonates with every clinician who has ever watched a patient deteriorate simply because they could not afford or access healthy meals. Food is medicine and can be the ultimate preventive tool if used correctly.
Just as we are on the cusp of realizing the full potential of value-based care, there are voices within the Republican Party who seek to undermine Medicare Advantage. Some Republicans argue for rolling back the very flexibilities that allow for this innovation. To those colleagues, I say this: you cannot claim to support a healthier America while attacking the primary platform that delivers preventive care to our seniors.
Undermining Medicare Advantage is contradictory to the health movement that President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promised voters. If we believe in the principles of Make America Healthy Again, then we must protect the program that allows seniors to stay healthy at home. We must support the only part of Medicare that can pay for groceries instead of just insulin.
Chronic disease is the greatest threat to our nation’s fiscal solvency. We cannot budget our way out of an obesity and diabetes epidemic. We must treat our way out of it, and the treatment cannot always be a pill or shot. The answer may come from lifestyle support for nutrition and a steady relationship between a patient and a care team that is incentivized to keep them well.
Dr. Oz understands this. He knows that when a physician is supported on discussing a whole-body approach, the patient listens. He knows that when a senior has access to healthy food, blood pressure drops, hospital admissions decrease, and quality of life improves.
As a former state senator who championed transparency and patient-centered care, I know that policy is where good intentions meet reality. The reality is that traditional government programs can be antiquated and feel built for the 20th century. Flexibility and Medicare Advantage is built for the 21st.
We can retreat to the old ways of paying for sickness or we can embrace the vision laid out by Dr. Oz. We can empower doctors to be healers rather than just technicians. We can protect Medicare Advantage as a lifeline for millions of seniors and a blueprint for a healthier, stronger nation.
And let us ensure that when we talk about making America healthy again, we keep the promise for the generation that built it.
Dr. Siobhan Dunnavant is a senior advisor to Advocates for Healthy Kids and a board-certified OB-GYN with years of experience caring for women and delivering babies in Virginia.Â
 The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
(Featured Image Media Credit:Â Screenshot/Fox News/”Special Report with Bret Baier”)
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
