Purpose of review: To determine if subsidizing the cost of a food-based intervention for managing hyperlipidemia could be cost-effective under commercial insurance and/or Medicare coverage scenarios.
Recent findings: A large number of patients eligible for pharmaceutical treatment of hyperlipidemia either cannot or will not use lipid lowering drugs, leaving them at increased cardiovascular risk. Lipid levels can be modified by diet, but food has never enjoyed covered benefit status. We evaluated the financial implications of providing insurance coverage for a specifically formulated suite of food products previously documented to yield statistically significant lipid reductions, using multiple product uptake and lipid impact scenarios in both commercially covered and Medicare-covered populations. Even after controlling for multiple confounders, we noted positive payback on subsidizing the cost of lipid-lowering foods under all scenarios. Addressing a root cause of hyperlipidemia by directly encouraging dietary modification provides a cost-effective alternative for cholesterol management, especially for statin intolerant or statin unwilling patients.
Keywords: Cost analysis; Food; Healthcare costs; Hyperlipidemia; Low density lipoprotein (LDL); Statin intolerance.