The Alarming and Rising Costs of Diabetes and Prediabetes: A Call for Action!

To the person with diabetes or to the provider caring for this individual, the personal costs associated with the disease are many and apparent on a daily basis: the monitoring of diet and glucose, the daily adjustments in medications, and the fear of, or the presence of, both acute and debilitating chronic complications. Thus, increasing awareness of the epidemic of diabetes has been accompanied in recent years by an even greater public awareness of the enormous increase in health care costs in the U.S. (which, like diabetes prevalence, may be slowing but continues to increase). The lost productivity, mortality, and morbidity as a result of the disease continue to be always in the conversation. In this regard, it has become axiomatic that there is an epidemic of diabetes across the world in general, and in the U.S. in particular. Indeed, the prevalence of diabetes has risen steadily for decades. Even a recent report that diabetes incidence may have plateaued (1) does not mean that the diabetes epidemic is abating—the same report estimates that prevalence will continue to rise because of changing demographics and increasing longevity in the U.S. population. As the public, policy makers, and payers struggle with how to contain the rising costs of health care, they inevitably look for the underlying factors driving those costs. Many of the costs are related to inefficient systems of care and changing demographics, particularly …