As middle-class families struggle to afford groceries, the state delivers organic produce, salmon, and more to Medi-Cal members.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
By Christopher F. Rufo, Madeleine Rowley<\/p>\n\n\n\n Salmon, beef, organic produce, and Amy\u2019s Kitchen meals: these are just some of the luxury foods that California welfare recipients can get delivered to their homes each week, for free<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Californians like TikTok user \u201cLupita\u201d are taking full advantage. Earlier this year, she posted a video of herself opening a taxpayer-funded grocery box, apologizing to her manicurist as she unboxed it by hand. Inside, she found carrots, heads of broccoli, apples, oranges, celery, rice, lettuce, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYesterday, I was like, \u2018I need some lettuce,\u2019 but the lettuce was like five dollars,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd look at this. Fresh lettuce! Thank you, God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She can also thank Governor Gavin Newsom. As part of his nearly $12 billion<\/a> Medicaid reform package, welfare recipients\u2014including illegal immigrants\u2014can receive free, \u201cmedically tailored\u201d meals and groceries<\/a>, delivered straight to their door. They can get foods for free that would cost ordinary people a small fortune.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The food service is part of CalAIM, Newsom\u2019s multibillion-dollar Medi-Cal reform package. Signed<\/a> into law in 2021, CalAIM directs Medicaid dollars to social programs like<\/a> transitional rent payments and housing deposits. Newsom called<\/a> it a \u201conce-in-a-generation opportunity to completely transform the Medicaid system in California.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The transformation is working. The most popular of CalAIM\u2019s \u201cCommunity Supports,\u201d by far, is \u201cmedically tailored meals<\/a>.\u201d That program and a related offering send prepared meals or \u201ctailored\u201d grocery items to qualified Medi-Cal recipients\u2019 homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The state makes eligibility easy. Applicants need a qualifying Medi-Cal card, a provider\u2019s recommendation, and an eligible condition<\/a>. In a 2024 presentation to a Los Angeles nonprofit, Andrew Barrier, a former executive of a California medically tailored food contractor, told his audience how easy it was to enroll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey\u2019re not looking to push people away from the program, they\u2019re really looking for people to be on it,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cStep one is that chronic condition. This is really how most people come in, and they could have diabetes, pre-diabetes, cardiovascular, mental- and behavioral-health disorders\u2014we\u2019ve seen anxiety, PTSD, depression, ADHD. Again, the list is very, very long.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n From there, the food shows up at recipients\u2019 doorsteps. Medi-Cal pays contractors to deliver the food for up to 12 weeks, after which eligible recipients can re-enroll. And it\u2019s not cheap: across 24 weeks, between food and delivery, a single \u201cmedically tailored meals\u201d recipient costs<\/a> taxpayers more than $1,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The food itself drives much of the cost. California contractors offer beef, chicken, organic produce, and more. Barrier\u2019s former company, Project FoodBox<\/a>, offers Medi-Cal recipients Amy\u2019s Kitchen<\/a> meals and burritos. Over several months, these foods would cost ordinary Californians hundreds of dollars at the grocery store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jocelyn Salala, a chef living in Los Angeles, told City Journal<\/em> that she signed up for Project FoodBox through Medi-Cal in April after she was laid off. She has since put the deliveries to creative use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was constantly trying to put all these ingredients into my food,\u201d she said. \u201cI took the sugar snap peas and made a cocktail. It allowed me to think outside the box, and I was really only buying protein at the store.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Salala, who also runs<\/a> a website about Swahili food and culture, said the amount of food that came each week was more than enough for one person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was a lot of produce,\u201d she said. \u201cI got so much celery. I still have some in my freezer that I use for broths.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n California\u2019s medically tailored meal and grocery offerings seem to have been inspired by the \u201cFood Is Medicine\u201d movement. Proponents argue that sending people state-funded health foods will reduce hospitalizations, ultimately saving taxpayers money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their view has gained some traction. Earlier this year, a study<\/a> out of Massachusetts found that receiving medically tailored meals was associated with about 31 percent fewer hospitalizations. In September, the House Ways and Means Committee voted<\/a> unanimously to create a pilot program that would pay hospitals to provide medically tailored meals to discharged patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But sending welfare recipients luxury health foods raises obvious questions. For one, what happens after the state stops sending the meals? And is this yet another free-food initiative, atop the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program?<\/p>\n\n\n\n In California, the answer to the second question is easy: yes. About 90 percent<\/a> of the people receiving CalFresh, the state\u2019s version of food stamps, are also enrolled in Medi-Cal. At the end of his presentation, Barrier told the audience that such people could receive medically tailored food and keep their existing welfare benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis does not impact any of their other health benefits, CalFresh, food stamps,\u201d he said. \u201cThe answer is always no if someone asks you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Companies across the country are cashing in on the Food Is Medicine movement. California-based contractors like Project FoodBox and Project Open Hand have raked in millions of Medicaid dollars. Between 2022 and 2024, companies nationwide made nearly $100 million billing Medicaid code S9977, an unspecified \u201cmeals\u201d code that includes medically tailored food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The nation\u2019s biggest S9977 biller in that span, by far, was Barrier\u2019s former company, Project FoodBox. Between 2022 and 2024, the California-based firm received more than $67.8 million from Medicaid. Since then, Project FoodBox has opened<\/a> a location in the Bronx, where it hopes to advise \u201cfamilies and individuals\u201d about \u201ccommunity-based services.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another large biller was California-based Hunger: Not Impossible<\/a>, now called Bento Health. The firm billed Medicaid more than $7.7 million and describes itself as a \u201cservice provider that connects Medicaid health plan members with curated groceries\u201d\u2014in other words, Instacart with a personal shopper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bento will apparently send luxury food items to illegal immigrants. On its website, the company says that eligibility for its services \u201cis not tied to immigration status, employment status, nationality, or any other factor other than your insurance provider\u2019s eligibility criteria.\u201d Bento did not respond to a comment request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n California law confirms this interpretation. In 2024, the state extended<\/a> \u201cfull-scope\u201d Medi-Cal coverage to illegal aliens. The state has since frozen illegals\u2019 ability to sign up but allows previous enrollees to keep their coverage. Medi-Cal\u2019s rules for these enrollees change<\/a> next year, but until then, illegals with \u201cfull scope\u201d coverage can access CalAIM\u2019s \u201cCommunity Supports,\u201d including medically tailored meals. In short, qualified illegal aliens in California can get state-funded luxury food boxes\u2014for free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We reached out to Project FoodBox, Project Open Hand, and other medically tailored food providers for comment, but did not receive a response. We also contacted California\u2019s Department of Health Care Services, which argued that the food programs had \u201cresult[ed] in a 10.5% net cost reduction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image-37.png\")
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