Pediatric medical guidelines recommend exposing babies to allergens early and often to prevent the development of food allergies. Infant food allergies disproportionately impact lower-income families, who face 2.5 times higher costs for allergic reactions.
Centene’s Home State Health in Missouri and WellCare Kentucky have partnered with allergen introduction company “Ready, Set, Food!” to offer exposure kits to all their Medicaid members. The kits include pre-measured packets of food such as peanuts, egg, or milk, which can then be mixed into breast milk, formula, or solid foods.
“Many Medicaid members live in food deserts where there isn’t a grocery store nearby. This creates problems, especially when we look at exposure to low-cost proteins like nuts, peanut butter, and eggs,” Darren Lovitz, senior director of health equity at WellCare Kentucky, told Becker’s. “We wanted to provide a new benefit to our members so that, at an early age, we could reduce the risk of food allergens. That way, as they grow up, they’ll have access to a broader and more affordable diet, leading to a healthier lifestyle.”
“We’re seeing a huge increase in food sensitivities and allergies,” he added. “It can lead to trips to the emergency room for constant nausea, vomiting, eczema, rashes, hives, or even difficulty breathing and wheezing. Think about the possibility of anaphylactic shock. Instead of sending them to the emergency room, we can build tolerance to these foods early in life and reduce those traumatic incidents.”
Centene’s efforts align with some states beginning to mandate insurance coverage for early allergen introduction, with others proposing similar legislation this year.
“We’re tracking historical data on things like trips to the ER and how many EpiPens we need to distribute,” Mr. Lovitz said. “We’ll then compare that to people who go through the program. We expect to see a significant reduction in those courses of care because of the increased tolerance to allergens.”
The program launched at the beginning of 2025 and is available to infants as young as four months old over a period of six months.
“Our care managers are dialed in with new and expecting parents, which allows us to have those early conversations about feeding, whether it’s breast milk or formula, and making them aware of this new program,” Mr. Lovitz said. “If they want to participate, they just say yes. We provide the entire kit, instructions, and support all at once, which helps ensure success.”
