Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

A new study conducted by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) shows, the economic costs associated with diabetes is shocking.  In 2007, diabetes cost the United States $174 billion; $12.46 billion in Texas and $515 million in El Paso alone.  According to USA Today, this is more than the costs of repairing damage caused by Hurricane Katrina ($150 billion).  It is also more than has been spent on military conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the global war on terrorism combined. 

Unless there is a change in the current system, the cost of diabetes is expected to continue to rise as a result of an increase in diagnosis rates as well as mounting health care costs.

Much of the expenditures incurred by individuals with diabetes are indirectly related to the disease.  Diabetes often leads to other costly medical complications such as cardiovascular and renal diseases.  In addition, individuals with diabetes are likely to experience a loss of productivity through absenteeism, decreased job performance, decreased earnings and participation in the labor force due to permanent disability, and decreased productivity caused by premature mortality.
    
Each person with diabetes spends an average of $11,744 a year on health care.  One out of every five dollars spent on health care goes to treating someone diagnosed with diabetes.  Last year, almost a quarter of the money spent on in-patient hospital care went to treat individuals with diabetes. 

These individuals have an increased rate of hospitalization.  Once hospitalized, they stay an average of 50 percent longer than individuals in the same age range without diabetes. According to a spokesman for the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, the risk of death is twice as high for people with diabetes than for those of the same age without diabetes. 

In 2007, 284,000 deaths were attributed to the disease.  

However, even with the devastating statistics, the situation is not without hope.  Several changes could alter the current trend of high diabetes costs.  Increased accessibility to quality outpatient care would decrease costs.  It is more cost-effective to treat diabetes through good management than to treat the consequences of bad disease management through emergency and in-patient care. 

Almost 10 percent of the diabetes population is uninsured, leaving them with little or no access to services that would prevent major complications that raise the cost of care.  By increasing the accessibility of routine medical care, the country could reduce the overall economic costs of diabetes by decreasing the cost of providing emergency and in-patient services.

In addition, enhancing prevention and education initiatives could lead to a reduction in the high diagnosis rate.  Decreasing the number of people that develop the disease will lessen the costs of treatment.  In recent years there has been a large jump in diabetes diagnosis rates among young people, and up to 90 percent of diagnoses can be attributed to weight gain.  Several initiatives implemented by the Special Diabetes Program for Indians have shown to decrease costs by reducing the prevalence of diabetes. 

These programs include lifestyle initiatives focusing on the importance of diet and exercise, an initiative that emphasizes the importance of monitoring blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressure, and an early screening and treatment initiative.  These or other similar programs, if expanded to other communities, could impact the overall cost of diabetes. 

For more information on the study conducted by ADA visit: www.diabetes.org/cost.