Other health conditions
Many other conditions where food is part of managing your health can qualify. Your doctor confirms your need in a short attestation.
Doctor’s attestation · Medicaid food benefit
Don’t see your condition? You may still qualify.
Medicaid-covered cooked meals and food prescription boxes are not only for diabetes, heart or kidney disease and pregnancy. Other health conditions can qualify, and so can people who use Medicaid services often. A short attestation from your doctor is usually needed, and MBD Care provides the paperwork, at no cost to you.
Delivered in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan. No bill, no co-pay and no application fee.
Who else can qualify
The common list is not the whole list
Diabetes, heart or kidney disease, pregnancy and children at nutritional risk are the conditions people usually hear about. They are examples, not limits.
Frequent hospital or ER visits
Members who use Medicaid services often, such as repeated emergency room visits or hospital stays, can qualify. This is sometimes called being a high Medicaid utilizer.
On Medicaid but no health plan yet?
That is called Medicaid fee-for-service (FFS). For many people it is only a starting point. Food and the other supports on this site are for members of a Medicaid health plan. Most people with New York Medicaid must join one, and it is free. If you get a letter asking you to choose and you don’t, a plan will be chosen for you, so it is better to choose yourself.
- Call to choose a plan. New York Medicaid Choice: 1-800-505-5678. Is your Medicaid case with NY State of Health? Call 1-855-355-5777 or use your online account.
- Wait for your plan to start. It usually starts on the 1st of a month, a few weeks after you choose. Until then, use your state card, and keep it after your plan starts too: you need it at the pharmacy.
- Call us when it starts. 718-737-2252. We will screen you and check what you can get.
Any regular Medicaid health plan works, including HARP, and MBD Care does not choose a plan for you. Have Medicare, other full health insurance, emergency-only Medicaid, or a spenddown (you pay part of your medical bills each month)? The rules are different, so call us and we will check.
Step-by-step guide →How it works
We handle the paperwork
2
Quick screening
A short phone call about your Medicaid and your health needs.
3
Attestation form
We provide the attestation paperwork for your doctor to complete.
4
Assessment & delivery
A registered dietitian assesses your needs, and we set up cooked meals or a food prescription box of groceries.
You still need the basics
Active New York Medicaid in a Medicaid health plan (no plan yet?), an address in Brooklyn, Queens or Manhattan, and a screening and assessment, which we arrange.
Questions
Questions about qualifying with a doctor’s attestation
What is a doctor's attestation?
A short form in which your doctor confirms your health need. It is usually needed for conditions outside the common list, or for members who use Medicaid services often.
Do I have to find the form myself?
No. MBD Care provides the attestation paperwork for your doctor to complete. You do not need to search for a form or know what to ask for.
Which conditions can qualify?
Common ones include diabetes, heart or kidney disease, pregnancy, and children at nutritional risk, but that is not a complete list. Other health conditions can qualify too. The quickest way to find out is to call 718-737-2252 and ask.
I go to the emergency room or hospital often. Does that count?
It can. Members who use Medicaid services often, such as repeated emergency room visits or hospital stays, can qualify. A doctor's attestation is usually needed, and we provide the paperwork.
Does it cost anything?
No. Services arranged through the Social Care Network are covered by your Medicaid. There is no bill, no co-pay and no application fee, and it does not reduce SNAP, WIC or other benefits.
Can my care manager help?
Yes. Care managers and navigators can refer you to MBD Care through Unite Us, and we provide the attestation paperwork for your doctor in the same way.
More questions? See our Medicaid food benefits Q&A or what’s inside a food prescription box.
Not sure? Ask us
One phone call to find out
Tell us about your situation. If a doctor’s attestation is needed, we provide the paperwork.
Or email info@mbd.care · Care managers: how to refer