Diabetes Epidemic Grows, But Ohio Legislature Fails to Act on Diabetes Health Care Bill

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Diabetes Epidemic Grows, But Ohio Legislature Fails to Act on Diabetes Health Care Bill
Thursday, 12 January 2006
PRNewswire

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite recent evidence that diabetes has risen sharply since 2003, the Ohio legislature has failed to act on legislation that would help to ensure that insured Ohioans with diabetes have the medication, supplies and training required to properly manage the disease and prevent its serious complications. Ohio is one of just four states -- along with Alabama, Idaho, and North Dakota -- that have not passed legislation to require state-regulated health plans to provide comprehensive diabetes health coverage. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) urged the Senate Insurance, Commerce and Labor Committee to move the Diabetes Cost Reduction Act (DCRA), S.B. 113, to the Senate floor for a vote. Last fall, the Committee held two hearings on the bill, which is sponsored by State Sen. Jeffry Armbruster (R-13-Ridgeville), but it has failed to move out of committee since then. Since those hearings, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that diabetes had increased by over 14 percent in the United States -- up from 18.2 million in 2003 to 20.8 million today.

"There is a lot of misinformation about this bill and its impact on Ohio," said David Repaske, PHD, MD, at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. "Opponents claim that the bill would be too costly, but studies from states that have passed similar legislation show that the bill actually will save the state health care system millions of dollars. Opponents claim that the bill would have little impact on diabetes coverage as most plans already cover diabetes. That too is false. According to the Ohio Department of Health, the bill will impact about 380,000 Ohioans. These are individuals who are under state-regulated health plans but receive inadequate coverage and have no coverage guarantees.

"The 380,000 Ohioans who would benefit from the bill's passage deserve an honest debate, not one filled with misinformation," added Dr. Repaske, who is the President of the ADA Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Leadership Council.

Contrary to the contentions of the insurance and small business lobbies that oppose the DCRA, implementation of the bill will actually save the state millions in direct and indirect costs. In other states that have passed this legislation, emergency room visits, hospital stays and surgeries due to diabetes complications have decreased, while employee productivity has increased. This is because it is proven that control of a person's blood glucose (sugar) drastically reduces the incidence of severe and costly diabetes-related complications, including heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, amputations and blindness. Access, through health coverage, of these supplies enables individuals with diabetes to properly manage the disease.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for every $1 spent covering people with diabetes, $3 will be saved in health care costs for diabetes-related complications. Additionally, a study released by the South Carolina Budget and Control Board in 2003 found that patients who took a diabetes education course had $2,324 less in medical claims per year than patients with similar symptoms and problems who did not go through Diabetes Chronic Disease workshops. Further, according to a 2002 study by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, since Florida passed its DCRA law in 1995, diabetes-related amputation rates have dropped 21 percent.

Diabetes afflicts more than 1 million people in Ohio, of whom about 380,000 would be affected by the legislation, according to the Ohio Department of Health. Management and treatment of the disease is vital to people with diabetes, and that requires supplies, including blood glucose strips, a blood glucose monitor, insulin and an insulin delivery system (such as an insulin pump, injector pen or syringes). Currently, none of these are required coverage by state-regulated insurance companies, meaning that nearly 400,000 Ohioans with diabetes have inadequate coverage.

"Diabetes has increased nationally by 14 percent since 2003, so why does the Ohio legislature continue to do nothing about diabetes in our state?" said David Zupan, a Cleveland small business owner and chair of the Cleveland area Leadership Council of the American Diabetes Association. "It's not too late to do something about the diabetes epidemic. It's not too late to give individuals with diabetes the tools they need to fight the disease."

The Diabetes Cost Reduction Act has been languishing in Ohio since 1994. Using available data between 1992 and 1999, diabetes-related complications dramatically increased in Ohio. Limb amputations increased by 26 percent. Blindness increased by 21 percent. Kidney disease increased by 332 percent. Deaths due to diabetes have increased by 20 percent. The direct and indirect cost of diabetes in Ohio in 1999 was $6.6 billion, an increase of more than 50 percent from 1994. Every year, over 18,000 Ohioans die from diabetes complications and more than 250,000 Ohioans are hospitalized because of the disease.

The American Diabetes Association is the nation's leading voluntary health organization supporting diabetes research, information and advocacy. Our advocacy efforts include helping to combat discrimination against people with diabetes; advocating for the increase of federal diabetes research and programs; and improved access to, and quality of, healthcare for people with diabetes. The Association's mission is to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. Founded in 1940, the Association provides service to hundreds of communities across the country. For more information please call the American Diabetes Association at 1-800-DIABETES (1-800-342-2383) or visit http://www.diabetes.org/. Information from both these sources is available in English and Spanish.

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