Staten Island’s God’s Love We Deliver Discusses Medically Tailored Meals Bill, Results Of Pilot Program

Malliotakis Joins God’s Love We Deliver to Push Medically Tailored Meals Bill

Editor’s note: Similarly to the intangible benefits provided to Staten Island residents by the home delivery, greeting and talking with those receiving the deliveries, by itself helps incredibly with some of the issues brought about by aging. These include loneliness, often the result of feeling or actually being neglected or abused by their relatives – or not having any relatives.  That’s why, in addition to providing meals at home, Older Adult Centers seem to offer help to older adults that do wish to age in place in their own homes.  It has been shown in study after study that social isolation is a predictor of ill health, and that those who use the services provided by the Older Americans Act, including the attendance of events and daily activities, often provided free of charge to lower income residents, are so crucial in maintainig the health of older adults.  Many older gentlemen, for instance, do not and will not cook for themselves (which is partly why we put together this video featuring 10-15 minute plant-based meals that are wholesome and nutritious), so if they don’t receive a home cooked meal, they may eat some kind of junk food, which has a direct impact on their short- and long-term health and longevity.  Poor diet, lack of exercise, and low nutrition intake have been implicated as a major cause of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and other health conditions.  Having someone prepare a meal which meets medical nutrition standards has been definitively shown to bring benefit to these patients.  

(BROOKLYN, NY) — Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11) joined God’s Love We Deliver highlighting H.R. 5439, Medically Tailored Home-Delivered Meals Program Pilot Act, bipartisan legislation she co-sponsored with Rep. Jim McGovern and celebrated its recent unanimous passage out of the House Ways and Means Committee, marking an important step toward final passage of the legislation.

The legislation creates a 6-year Medicare pilot program for 40 hospitals to deliver medically tailored meals for Medicare beneficiaries who live at home and have a diet-impacted disease like diabetes and heart failure after they leave the hospital. The meals are medically tailored, which means they are designed by nutritionists to accommodate the specific health needs of a patient. The legislation is budget neutral with no additional cost to taxpayers.

Rep. Malliotakis also recognized the organization’s important work delivering medically tailored meals to constituents across her district, particularly older adults and medically vulnerable individuals who have difficulty shopping or cooking on their own. In FY2026, God’s Love We Deliver provided 230,635 medically tailored meals to 996 unique residents of New York’s 11th Congressional District, at no cost to them. Fifty-seven percent of meals delivered in the district supported residents age 60 and older.  Research from God’s Love We Deliver found that patients receiving medically tailored meals had 16% lower health care costs and 49% fewer inpatient hospital admissions.

“God’s Love We Deliver does incredible work across our city, including providing more than 230,000 medically tailored meals to 1,000 constituents in my district last year. These meals help people with serious illnesses stay healthier, avoid unnecessary hospital visits and remain in their own homes instead of hospital beds. Our bipartisan legislation builds on this important work by creating a pilot program for medically tailored meals for Medicare beneficiaries. By expanding access to medically tailored meals, we can improve health outcomes and reduce healthcare costs—it’s a win-win. We hope to see this legislation move forward to a vote of the full House and ultimately become law,” said Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis.

“Last year, God’s Love We Deliver provided more than 230,000 medically tailored meals to nearly 1,000 people in Congresswoman Malliotakis’s district. Today, at Liberty BKLYN, our new meal distribution center, she saw firsthand the care and coordination behind every one of those deliveries,” said Terrence Meck, President & CEO of God’s Love We Deliver. “We thank the Congresswoman for championing the bipartisan Medically Tailored Home-Delivered Meals Program Pilot Act and helping it advance through the Ways and Means Committee. We look forward to working with her to bring this legislation to the House floor and give Medicare the opportunity to test how medically tailored meals can improve health and support people living with chronic illness at home.”

 

 

Banner Image: Rep. Malliotakis at God’s Love We Deliver.  Image Credit – Rep. Malliotakis