The Cost of Diabetes Treatment

The staggering cost of treating diabetes and the number of diabetes-related programs highlight a need for a national diabetes coordinator to ensure results," Haza said. "We are spending as much on diabetes as we are on the entire Department of Education, but no one is leading the effort." A report by Medco Health Solutions Inc. issued last month found that the growing diabetes epidemic and more aggressive treatment could result in soaring costs to treat the disease over the next three years. An analysis of Medco's 2007 Drug Trend Report found that, by 2009, spending just on medicines to treat diabetes could soar 60 percent to 68 percent from 2006 levels. The sales of diabetes drugs in the United States reached $9.88 billion in 2005, according to data from IMS Health Inc. "Coordinating America's response to diabetes should be mandatory," said Lana Vukovljak, CEO of American Association of Diabetes Educators. "Over the next 30 years, diabetes is expected to claim the lives of 62 million Americans. Surely this health crisis warrants the appointment of a manager charged with aligning budgets and programs for diabetes at the federal level," Vukovljak said in a statement. Uncontrolled diabetes can result in a wide variety of serious health complications, including heart disease, stroke, vision loss, amputation of extremities and kidney disease. "Our findings suggest that there are many missed opportunities for the federal government to enhance its impact on diabetes prevention, detection, treatment and management of complications," Marsha Gold, who led Mathematica's research team, said in a statement.