Don’t Get Fresh With Me!

I swear I’m not disgruntled.  So what is the opposite?  Gruntled?  And what is the opposite of a confirmation bias?  There is not an apt word, but challenging preconceived notions can be a good personal trait.  It takes courage to maintain an open mind.  

Let’s challenge the belief that five servings of fruit and vegetables is a daily nutritional requirement.  Few would challenge that bias/fact.  But let me protest, nonetheless.  Rotting fruit and vegetables that have gone bad are not what nutritional experts endorse.  In other words, they are no longer “fresh” fruit and vegetables.

Seniors all over America possess rotting fruit and vegetables in their refrigerators.  We (I am 74) purchase them when the little voice in our head asserts that they are good for us.  We may even open cookbooks (Yes, Boomers still rely on “books”) to identify really good recipes for zucchini, broccoli or kale.  Then the clock strikes SIX and we redirect our attention to “Wheel of Fortune.”  A pizza gets ordered.  Or, perhaps, we pull a can of soup from the cupboard.  Our saintly intention of eating better succumbs to the convenient rhythms of daily life.  And what senior can’t relate to the above exposed vignette?

Now let’s turn our attention to the health plan’s boardroom, where well-meaning executives construct next year’s supplemental benefit options by debating the different meal options for Seniors in their Medicare Advantage plans.  

Here are some choices to consider:

• Give us Seniors a flex card and let us purchase calories with no direction or suggestions regarding nutritional value.  
• Restrict the flex card so that it cannot be used for purchasing alcohol, cigarettes or Oreos (and other nutrition-less processed food).
• Provide monthly one-hour sessions for each senior to receive advice and counsel from a Registered Dietician on what to eat and how to prepare great meals that are also good for us.
• Create a Farmacy and have us drive to the site and select fresh fruit and produce.
• Give us coupons that authorize 50% discounts at the local Farmers’ Market.
• Send us boxes of ingredients with explicit directions on how to prepare nutritious meals.
• Cover the cost of Door Dash or InstaCart for self-selected grocery deliveries for whatever we choose to order.
• Deliver medically tailored, microwavable meals that are nutritionally rich and require little time to prepare and consume.
• Navigate me to my state, county, town, EBT/SNAP benefits so I can take full advantage of the jigsaw puzzle of federal, state, local food/meal nutrition benefits that I am eligible to receive.
• Offer cooking classes at the community center to teach guys like me who rarely cooked how to cook delicious meals without using too much oil or fat and maybe enjoy the fun and social nature of what cooking healthy can be with friends.

OK, so let’s consider me biased. (Guilty as charged.)  And while striving to maintain an open mind, I’m still somewhat entrenched in my confirmation biases.  But I am also a proud member of the target population whom health plans are striving to influence.  I.e., I have two or more chronic conditions (depending on whether restless leg is considered chronic) and am a Medicare Advantage member.  Most seniors behave much like I do - that is to say, we elevate convenience above other aspects of calorie consumption.  We don’t choose to learn new, abstruse terms in the nutritional vernacular.  We don’t want to master the Metric System, Dewey Decimal, or The New & Improved Food Pyramid.  

We simply want to trust our health plan and its ability to make smart decisions for us.  Decisions like when to have our cataracts removed.  Or, should we repair a bunion on our foot before we receive a knee replacement.  We seek the considerate and deliberate insights of our health plan executives, as long as they behave like they are walking a mile in our bunion-inhabited shoes and not their GenX-influenced own shoes.  So when you walk a mile in my shoes, remember:  

‍Convenience, ease of use, and friction-free come before what’s best for me.  (P.S., that also goes for 2-hour hold times with your call center!!)

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