Healthcare Debate Sharpens at University of Chicago Diabetes Report

One of the biggest reasons for the stalemate in the healthcare debate is that the effect is not always direct. People who are not affected by the staggering costs of healthcare; reason being because these people have excellent coverage they can afford, are independently wealthy, or suffer no ailments needing to use this care; see no need to change the status quo. However American's are not getting healthier and the effects will start to be felt in a variety of settings; this is no different for a disease like Type 2 Diabetes. According to a recent report from the University of Chicago, the number of Americans with diabetes will nearly double in the next 25 years; going from an already large 23.7 million Americans to more than 44 million Americans by the year 2034, the report says. The University of Chicago report also says that the costs of treating diabetes will triple over the same time period.

From the report, released in the December journal of Diabetes Care, another staggering number is present. Somewhere in the vicinity of 90% of diabetics in America have type 2 diabetes. While some races are more genetically predisposed to developing type 2 diabetes, something else is clear. According to the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse's (NDIC) website, "Research has demonstrated that people at risk for type 2 diabetes can prevent or delay developing type 2 diabetes by losing a little weight." So while anybody having a disease like diabetes is tragic, the fact remains that a large percentage of these cases could be if not totally avoided, at least substantially delayed by keeping fit.

But you're fit, you do the things you need to, you eat healthy, and you see no reason to change the healthcare situation in America. Even if the costs of fighting diabetes won't affect your life directly, the ancillary effect of rise in healthcare costs is troubling to say the least. The inflation adjusted numbers surrounding costs for care of diabetes jumping from $113 to $336 billion in the next quarter century are frightening. What this means is that diabetes, a disease whose numbers are on the rise, will continue to cost more and more. Taken to a logical next step this would indicate that costs of other diseases whose numbers are on the rise will continue to rise.

Congress has health care proposals on the docket to try and slow growth of chronic diseases like diabetes. So for some things being done; however this doesn't attack the central front in the healthcare debate which is that healthcare is just getting too expensive. It will be interesting to see what America looks like in the coming years if younger people as they get older continue to live by the seat of their pants and continue to not practice healthy living until they've passed the brink.

In the University of Chicago report, doctors say that the problem could be even worse than imagined: When will 'even worse' finally be too much?