Diabetes may be known for other things than just a chronic medical illness with major complications. How about 4P – pending public policy problem? Currently, an estimated 23 million people in this country have diabetes. That number, according to a study out today in the journal Diabetes Care, is expected to double in 25 years. Additionally, the cost of treating this public health menace is expected to triple by 2034. Eight million Medicare beneficiaries are receiving care paid for by the entitlement; half of all Medicare spending currently goes to treating diabetes and its complications. Factoring in age as a risk factor for the jump in cases over the next 25 years is one thing that policymakers have very little control over. But, for that other major co-morbid diagnosis — obesity — that’s another can of worms altogether.

Taken by themselves, the sheer number of people who will become afflicted with diabetes is staggering enough, but what is even more exasperating is the strain on a healthcare system that will not only have to grapple with the cost of the care of the projected spike in Medicare beneficiaries — but also with the dilemma of reining in costs associated with President Obama’s present-day reform efforts. At a time when a major part of that reform comes at the hands of  insurance companies being forced not to deny coverage based upon pre-existing conditions, the effort to even consider battling such a seemingly redoubtable problem is mind-numbing if not politically unfeasable. | LINK

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