"“We shouldn't be giving people who are sick Jell-O, Cheerios, rubber chicken and sugary drinks,” Kennedy said at the event, hosted by the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute think tank. “We have the best medical technology in the world,” he continued. “We have the best doctors. We have the finest hospitals in the world, but for some reason for many years they haven't recognized the most important tool of medicine today is good food.”"
"During a press conference at Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami, Kennedy announced that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services sent a notice to hospitals Monday morning asking them to “align their food purchases with the dietary guidelines in order to enjoy continued eligibility for Medicaid and Medicare payments.” Hospitals, he said, were eager to participate and needed an incentive to do so."
"Oh, a threat. I'm sure hospital administrators enjoy being blackmailed, knuckled, and treated like roadkill raccoons. It has apparently eluded the Secretary that, thanks to him and the administration he proudly serves, while we may indeed have some of the best hospitals in the world, we don't have nearly enough of them. And there are places in this country that literally are health-care deserts."
A Health and Human Services Secretary announced that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services sent hospitals a notice requiring alignment of food purchases with dietary guidelines to maintain Medicare and Medicaid payment eligibility. The announcement was made at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami. The claim was that hospitals have advanced medical technology, doctors, and facilities, yet have not recognized good food as an important tool of medicine. The response criticized the approach as coercive and suggested that broader public health needs exist, including shortages of hospitals and health-care deserts. The criticism argued that many communities lack sufficient hospital access and may face improvised or emergency-level care.
#hospital-food-standards #medicare-and-medicaid #dietary-guidelines #public-health-policy #healthcare-access
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