I live in the mecca of local and organic produce. There are so many farmer's markets to choose from on a given week that you could eat like royalty nearly year-round and hardly step foot in a grocery store. The daddy of them all, the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, and my favorite low-key version, The Alemany Market, are bustling year round and have arguably some of the best coffee, specialty food, gourmet treats and, of course, produce in the country. (Not that I'm biased or anything.)
But, one of my favorite treats of the summer is my Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) veggie box. Once a week I pick up a box of the tastiest just-picked fruits and veggies. I read the info sheet on all the obscure or not-so-obscure items inside and plot out what to cook, freeze or eat on the spot (the strawberries don't always make it all the way home). I'll be the first to admit I'm a bit of a geek about this but it is so much fun--kind of like Christmas morning once a week (plus supporting the community and all that good stuff too). Unless you threw in a chef to cook the veggies for me, I would never have thought a CSA could get better. Until now.
In Madison, people are getting rebates on their health care for joining a CSA! The Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition (that is a mouthful!) has a program called Eat Healthy Rebate where their CSA members get rebates on their health plans--up to $200 bucks! This info from the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
CSAs are particularly popular around Madison, Wis. There, Physicians Plus Insurance Corp. in 2005 began offering $200 premium rebates to member families who joined CSAs. The program appears to have been the first of its kind in the country. In 2006, the first full year of the program, 972 members got the CSA rebate; heading into this season, 1,460 will qualify, said Physicians Plus marketing manager Scott Shoemaker.
If people are motivated to eat "healthier foods, exercise and practice preventive health measures, they're going to be healthier in the long run and need less health management down the road," Shoemaker said. "They'll go in to the doctor less. And costs will go down."
This is pure brilliance in my opinion. Why not pair eating healthy with lowering your health care costs -- and supporting the local community all at the same time?
This could be a great fit for employer wellness incentives too. Employees are often offered reimbursements for gym memberships that go unused--maybe for some employees those incentive dollars could be better spent on healthy eating?
Are there other examples of pairing local agriculture with health incentives? Please leave examples--or your ideas!--in the comments below.
WOW. Wish more companies offered this incentive.
Posted by: Ursula | June 15, 2009 at 10:11 AM
incentives for healthy eating and supporting local business. Great idea.
Posted by: Joe Byrd | June 16, 2009 at 05:24 PM