Editorial: A nation of diabetics

Wednesday, June 20, 2007 | 7:09 a.m.

A new report suggests that diabetes and its associated complications consume a significant chunk of the federal government's health care money.

A Bloomberg News story on Tuesday says the analysis, which was paid for by Novo Nordisk A/S, the world's largest manufacturer of insulin for diabetics, shows that the federal government spent $79.7 billion on diabetes treatment in 2005. That figure represents 12 percent of the nation's health care budget and exceeded the Education Department's entire 2005 budget.

About 21 million Americans have diabetes - twice the number of people afflicted with the disease in 1980, Bloomberg reports. There are two types of diabetes, with Type I being congenital.

But most new diabetes cases in America are Type II , which is brought on by poor eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle. It used to be called "adult onset diabetes" because age also was typically a factor.

Not anymore.

Teenagers and even younger children now are being diagnosed with Type II diabetes. And, left untreated, diabetes can cause blindness, kidney failure, amputations and death.

The cost analysis, Bloomberg reports, shows that virtually all federal departments - with the possible exception of the General Services Administration and the State and Energy departments - spend money on diabetes control. Of the nearly $80 billion in federal spending, only $3.9 billion was on prevention. The rest went to treatment.

At the rate that diabetes is growing among Americans, that kind of mind-set and spending "will bankrupt the American health care system," Larry Deeb, a Florida physician and president for medicine and science of the American Diabetes Association, told Bloomberg.

Although it is important to ensure that people suffering from diabetes have access to adequate treatment , it is equally important that the government do a better job of prevention by finding more ways to educate people about the lifestyle choices and behaviors that place them at risk of contracting diabetes .