Medicare Diabetes Prevention Act of 2013
Abstract
The ‘Medicare Diabetes Prevention Act 2013’ is a bill that was sponsored by Senators Al Franken, S. Collins, and J. Rockefeller and Representative S Davis with an aim of Providing Medicare cover for senior citizens who are at risk of developing diabetes and its related chronic complications. The intended program would make use of community based interventions groups that would focus on nutritional therapy and exercise lifestyle changes to delay on set of diabetes under the auspice of national diabetes prevention program. Its projected with the successful implementation of the program will save approximately $191 billion in terms of health care costs.
Key words: diabetes, act, prevention, Al Franken
Medicare Diabetes Prevention Act Of 2013
On March 5, 2013 a bipartisan bill sponsored by Senators Al Franken, S. Collins, and J. Rockefeller and Representative S. Davis aimed to extend the coverage of the Medicare program to cater for community based programs that were focused in reducing the prevalence of diabetes type 2 and its related complications among senior citizens of the United State of America (American Medical Association [AMA], 2014).
There position was informed by a pilot study commissioned by The Center for Disease Control and Prevention working in tandem with Young Men’s Christian Association which focused on nutritional therapy as well as physical activities to delay diabetes type 2 among pre-diabetes candidates (Berenson et al., 2009). The findings demonstrated a reduction of 58 % chances of a pre-diabetic adult developing diabetes type 2 as well as a reduction of 71% likelihood of adults over 60 years from being diagnosed with diabetes type 2. The icing on the cake on the aforementioned study was the individual cost of enrollment to the program. It cost on average $300 per every participant (Franken, 2012, para. 2).
Modus Operandi of the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Act
The targeted group will be senior American citizens who are at risk of developing diabetes and its related complications. The national diabetes prevention program in collaboration with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would form associations with diabetes prevention program delivery partner. Presently six grantees have been identified of which YMCA –USA executes the most established prevention program (CDC, 2011). The Medicare Diabetes Prevention Act is intended to cover the cost of medical nutrition therapy that would be provided by a registered
dietician to pre-diabetes candidates, diabetes patient as well as nephropathic patients (American Diabetes Association [ADA], 2012).
Financial Implications of Prevention of Diabetes in Medicare Act
The diabetes prevention program would be covered by the federal government under the umbrella of Medicare policy. The economic cost of diabetes in U.S.A in 2007 was approximated to be 174 billion US dollars. A report commissioned by the urban institute estimates that diabetes prevention program will save approximately $191 billion in terms of health care costs stretched over ten years period (Berenson et al., 2009).
The annual health care cost of management of diabetes according to America Diabetes Association(2012) is $11,744 whereas that of an individual without diabetes is $2,560.The financial constraints is clear and the old adage of ‘prevention is better than cure’ holds true for the diabetes prevention act.
Being a fairly new program, actual figures and cost cutting measures are yet to be established. However, studies conducted by the International Diabetes Federation give credence to the fact that lifestyle intervention as well as nutrition therapy are cost effective in delaying diabetes in pre-diabetes candidates (ADA, 2014, p.8).
Conclusion
In a nutshell the Medicare diabetes prevention act is intended to provide coverage to tried and tested means of delaying and preventing progression of pre-diabetes to diabetes among senior American citizens who are at risk. The program aims to utilize nutrition therapy as well as physical exercise to bring diabetes to check. The idea is noble and the research conducted on its feasibility is outstanding. Its high time congress accepted the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Act and allows the secretaries of the concerned ministry fast track the roll out of the program to the targeted population.
REFERENCE
American Medical Association. (2014, February14). Show your support for the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Act of 2013. Retrieved March 8, 2014, from http://www.ama-assn.org/resources/doc/nac/nac-diabetes-fly.pdf
Berenson, R.A., Holahan, J., Blumberg, L., Bovbjerg, R., Waidmann, T., Cook, A., & Williams, A. (2009). How we can pay for health care reform? Urban Institute. Retrieved March 8, 2014, from www.urban.org/health_policy/url.cfm?ID=4119432.
Franken, A. (2012). Sen. Franken’s Floor Statement on Extending National Diabetes Prevention Program. [Online] Available at http://www.franken.senate.gov/?p=news&id=2169 [accessed 8 March 2009].
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Diabetes Prevention Program. (2011, February 2). Diabetes prevention. Accessed February 2, 2014. Available at Retrieved March 7, 2014, from http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/prevention/about.htm#Funded.
American Diabetes Association. (2012). Economic Costs of Diabetes in U.S. in 2012. Diabetes Care, Vol 31:596-615.Retrieved March 7 2014 from http://care.diabetesjourn
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