When the Cost of Food is a Health Risk: Dollar Stores, Tariffs, Family Meals, and the Rising Cost of Food
“Shoppers are feeling less control of their spending on food and more concerned about food prices than in February 2026.” Researchers with The Food Industry Association discussed their latest research into U.S. consumers’ worries about food prices’ impacts on family meals this week, and their findings comport with what I see happening in peoples’ self-care choices at-home directly impacting nutrition as well as adjacent areas of retail health and home health life-flows. This data point meshes with trends in geopolitics, home economics, and consumers’ growing demand for self-care outside of traditional “front doors” compelling me to call-out the health risks
How Kroger and Instacart Are Delivering Food as Medicine, and Medicine with Food
A new study in Circulation, published 10 August 2026 found that home delivery of healthy groceries significantly improved blood sugar levels for people dealing with Type 2 diabetes. Now an alliance between the major grocery chain Kroger working with Instacart can scale such an effort for consumers embracing their own approaches to food-as-medicine, combining the delivery of groceries with prescriptions by enrolling in Kroger’s My Prescriptions and Online Pay apps. Kroger operates some 2,800 grocery stores serving 11 million people a day. The banners of Kroger include at least one name you
Americans’ Spending on Healthcare, Food, and Housing: It’s All the Costs of Living – eHealth’s 2026 Mid-Year Survey
Two in three U.S. adults believe that recent high inflation has negatively impacted their ability to pay for food, clothing, or housing in the past twelve months — and, due to inflation in the U.S., 42% of people said that they have skipped or delayed medical care in the past year — including 52% of folks not yet enrolled in Medicare, and 27% of Medicare enrollees. Such are the economic lives of American households as quantified in the eHealth Mid-Year Healthcare Pulse Report 2026, published in July 2026. eHealth surveyed over 1,000 Americans to
I'm grateful to be part of the Duke Corporate Education faculty, sharing perspectives on the future of health care with health and life science companies. Once again, I'll be brainstorming the future of health care with a cohort of executives working in a global health care enterprise.
Jane joined host Dr. Geeta "Dr. G" Nayyar and colleagues to brainstorm the value of vaccines for public and individual health in this challenging environment for health literacy, health politics, and health citizen grievance. Click onto the Pfizer Value of Vaccines site and you can watch four episodes covering the challenges with adult vaccination, the employer and health plan member's journey to vaccination, reimbursement, and collaborating for proactive prevention.
Jane will be working with EU- and UK-based clients in September and October 2026, collaborating with stakeholders in digital health, public/community health, retail health, and growing opportunities for health-at-home. Stay tuned to her updates here on Health Populi on-the-ground as she lives the digital nomadic work-life in Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and in London.