Health-Medical-Fitness-Diet-zj: Introduction Of The Medicare Diabetes Prevention Act Praised By The American Diabetes Association

Senators Al Franken (D-MN), John D. Rockefeller (D-WV), and Richard G. Lugar (R-IN) have been leaders in the effort to stop diabetes by introducing the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Act; new legislation that provides coverage of the National Diabetes Prevention Program (National DPP) under the Medicare Program.

At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National DPP is a public-private partnership that includes private insurers, government agencies, and community organizations.

Based on an NIH clinical trial that showed participants over the age of 60 could effectively reduce their risk of diabetes by 71 percent, the proven prevention program provides evidence-based programs.

Coverage of this crucial program by Medicare is a fiscal breakthrough for the health of the nation by decreasing federal expenditures on diabetes and its crippling complications, such as: blindness, end-stage kidney disease, and amputation.

L. Hunter Limbaugh, Chair of the Board, American Diabetes Association, said:

"The American Diabetes Association strongly supports the introduction of the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Act.This legislation will provide our nation's seniors with access to proven diabetes prevention programs that will drastically change the course of type 2 diabetes among this high-risk population."

Diabetes is a serious nationwide public health problem. Almost half of all American adults over the age of 65 have prediabetes and are at enormous risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The expansion of community-based diabetes prevention programs will not only prevent diabetes from developing in adults, but will also save $191 billion in health care costs over a 10 year span, according to The Urban Institute. The timing is ideal for Congress to support proven and cost-effective programs to reduce health care costs, and most importantly, improve the lives of Americans.

According to the NIH (National Institutes of Health), in the USA: 8.3% of the US population are affected with diabetes; a total of 25.8 million.18.8 million have been diagnose with diabetes.At least 7 million people have diabetes but have not been diagnosed. (Experts say this is a conservative number.)If diabetes incidence continues growing at its present rate, within the next twenty years the percentage of people in the country with the disease will probably more than double.Written by Kelly Fitzgerald
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duminică, 5 august 2012

Introduction Of The Medicare Diabetes Prevention Act Praised By The American Diabetes Association