Medicare Diabetes Prevention Act 2013

Abstract

The Medicare Diabetes Prevention Act of 2013 seeks to amend section eighteen of the Medicare Program of the Social Security Act to include diabetes prevention to various individuals who are eligible to enter the program. The Act directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to set criteria in line with the standards set by the National Prevention Program under the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This paper will explore the various aspects of this policy that include reasons for the changes, the policy options, and the recommendable course of action.

Keywords: Medicare Diabetes Prevention Act, Social Security Act, Health and Human Services, Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Statement of the Policy

The Medicare Diabetes Prevention Act of 2013 proposes an amendment to a section of the Social Security Act of Medicare to include the diabetes prevention program that covers the various individuals affected by diabetes (The Library Congress, 2014). The bill vests power on the Secretary of Health and Human Services in setting the criteria that will guide the diabetes prevention program. This criterion must adhere to standards set by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Reasons for the Changes

Diabetes is one of the leading killer diseases among the elderly in the United States. Estimates show that there are individuals with both diabetes, and pre-diabetes conditions. Moreover, more individuals are likely to develop diabetes in the future (Diabetes Advocacy Alliance, 2013). Currently, over fifty percent of Americans aged 65 years or more have the risk of developing type-two diabetes. Moreover, nearly 26 million children and adults live with diabetes. The figure will definitely double repeatedly if 79 million pre-diabetic conditions turn diabetic. The ten-year federal spending on diabetes stands at about $ 9.1 billion. The Medicare Diabetes prevention Act will reduce this spending to about $ 7.7 resulting in about $ 1.3 billion in savings in just over ten years. These facts have motivated the formulation of the Act.

Policy Options under the Act

The programs under this Act will focus on preventing pre-diabetes from degrading to type two-diabetes status among the seniors. This comes through lifestyle change in eating and exercising. These services are open to individuals who are diabetic, pre-diabetic, and are aged 65 years and above. However, these programs require finances. In particular, the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Act 2013 will benefit from the Affordable Care Act (Anderson, 2014). This Act led to the formation of National Diabetes Prevention Program. This program avails diabetes preventive actions to all communities. At this stage, the Congress is yet to appropriate about $ 20 million for the program. Moreover, the legislation allows Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to offer reimbursements to facilities that participate in preventive measures in line with the CDC guidelines (Novo Nordisk 2014). These funds come from Prevention and Public Health Fund through the secretary of Health and Human Services upon approval by Congress.

Earlier on, an individual would incur a cost of about $ 7,900 yearly. Diabetes triples the medical costs of an individual. However, the Medicare Diabetes Program is free of charge. This includes individuals under Medicare program (Novo Nordisk 2014). The federal government will spend about $ 7.7 billion in ten years, which translates to about $ 0.8 billion yearly. This program will affect many health facilities, particularly those that deal directly with diabetes prevention programs, and are affiliates of CDC.

Recommendation

The team should support the Act since its implementation will lead to considerable savings in taxpayer’s funds. The estimated savings over ten-year period readily justifies the implementation of the program with most politicians seeing the program as the only way to fix the health burden on the economy.

References

Anderson, J. (2014). How proven prevention can stop diabetes. American Diabetes Association. Retrieved from http://clinical.diabetesjournals.org/content/30/2/76.full.

Diabetes Advocacy Alliance. (2013). In the news. Retrieved from http://www.diabetesadvocacyalliance.org/html/media_latest_news.html

GOVTRACK. (2014). S. 452: Medicare Diabetes Prevention Act of 2013. Retrieved from https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/s452/text.

Novo Nordisk. (2014). Act for diabetes: achieving change together. Retrieved from http://www.actfordiabetes.com/learn/issues.

The Library Congress. (2014). Medicare diabetes prevention act of 2013. Retrieved from http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c113:H.R.962: