Local Insurance Provider Cuts Patient Access to Medically Tailored Soup, Organic Soup Kitchen Rallies Community
SANTA BARBARA, Calif.—At Santa Barbara’s Organic Soup Kitchen, each container of soup has essential nutrients that benefit everyone from cancer patients to those with auto immune conditions.
And the vegetables are locally sourced.
“When you are going through treatment after treatment and you are deteriorating, having a really good food that is nutrient dense and delicious, I think it keeps you physically going, but I think it keeps you mentally and emotionally going as well,” said Organic Soup Kitchen Program Manager Brooke Bigelow.
Brooke Bigelow runs the Medically Tailored Soups Program, a program where just last year, patients were able to get 36 consecutive weeks of soup covered by insurance.
One of Organic Soup Kitchen’s major insurance partners has lowered its coverage policy from 36 weeks of soup to just 12 weeks.
“Somebody who needs medical support and food support for the rest of their lives, getting 12 weeks is like getting a taste of exactly what they need and having it taken away,” said Bigelow.
And those 12 weeks are consecutive, which means the meals can’t be paused or spread out.
“Unfortunately, that means if someone is hospitalized and can't receive soup to their home, if someone is going on a trip, someone is out of town for any reason,” said Bigelow.
Going down from 36 weeks to 12 weeks is a 24 week difference. When each soup is valued at $20 apiece, that translates to $3,360 that's not covered by insurance.
“We are trying to roll over the people from the medically tailored Meals program that's partnered with this insurance provider and put them into our program, after the 12 weeks. So that makes our wait list for our nutrition program, swell up,” said Organic Soup Kitchen Communications Director Natasha Nazerian.
Organic Soup Kitchen is asking community members and local leaders to help stabilize services through emergency funding, partnerships, and collaborative solutions.
