Accountable Produce is Medicine Act of 2026

Key Points

• This bill creates a five-year test program to see if giving healthy food to patients can treat long-term illnesses. It focuses on conditions like diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure that are often linked to what people eat.
• The program is for people using Medicare or Medicaid who live in rural areas or places with few doctors. To join, a doctor must decide that a patient would benefit from changing their diet to improve their health.
• Participants would receive fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables that do not have added sugar or salt. They would also get health coaching, nutrition classes, and tools to help them track their health from home.
• The plan encourages buying food from local farmers who live within 250 miles of the program. It also gives a preference to farmers who use special methods to keep their soil healthy and full of nutrients.
• Patients would not have to pay any money out of their own pockets for these services. The government wants to find out if spending money on healthy food now will save more money later by keeping people out of the hospital.

Impact Analysis

Govbase has not yet run an impact analysis on this legislation.