Diabetes Skyrocketing in Cases and Costs
Reported December 02, 2009
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — New estimates predict the number of Americans living with diabetes will double by the year 2034, tripling the costs of the disease burden.
Experts predict the current 23.7 million cases of diabetes in the United States will reach 44.1 million over the next 25 years.
Researchers say a large part of the increase will be attributed to the 77 million “baby boomers” born between 1946 and 1957, who are approaching retirement age, as well as diabetes complications and federal health insurance. Diabetes is also being diagnosed at younger ages, causing an increase in the number of complications and treatment with more aggressive therapies.
If we don’t change our diet and exercise habits or find new, more effective and less expensive ways to prevent and treat diabetes, we will find ourselves in a lot of trouble as a population,” Elbert Huang, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, was quoted as saying.
This is a serious challenge to Medicare and every other health plan in the country,” Michael O’Grady, Ph.D., senior fellow at the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago and study co-author, was quoted as saying. The cost of doing nothing is the significant increase in the pain and suffering of America’s population and a financial burden that will threaten the financial viability of public and private insurers alike.”
SOURCE: Diabetes Care, December 2009