Health Insurance for Diabetes Prevention Confers Health Benefits and Breaks Even on Cost Within 2 Years

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Mary Weber, Emory University; Kabayam Venkat Narayan, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2019-09-01
• Publisher: AMER DIABETES ASSOC
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2019 by the American Diabetes Association.
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.2337/dci19-0022
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: DIABETES CARE
• Volume: 42
• Issue: 9
• Start Page: 1612
• End Page: 1614
• Grant/Funding Information: Both M.B.W. and K.M.V.N. are supported by National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases grant P30DK111024 and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute grant R01HL125442.
• Keywords: Life Sciences & Biomedicine; SETTINGS; INTERVENTIONS; Endocrinology & Metabolism; Science & Technology; METAANALYSIS; WEIGHT
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Public Health; Health Sciences, Epidemiology

Abstract

Diabetes and its predecessor prediabetes are huge and costly problems in the U.S., affecting 24.7 (1) and 84.1 million people (2), respectively. Treatment of prevalent diabetes is a leading contributor of rising U.S. health care costs (3), and the cost of treating prediabetes, diabetes, and gestational diabetes mellitus combined is $404 billion (4). Fortunately, there is strong evidence for prevention, or at least delay, of type 2 diabetes in high-risk individuals, especially those with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), through lifestyle education programs, interventions that have been shown to be effective, cost-effective, and translatable in real-life settings (5–8). The challenge lies in scaling the implementation of proven programs like the U.S. Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) at the community level with effective, easy, and low-cost ways to reach at-risk individuals and enroll, engage, and keep them in programs like the National DPP (9).