FLASHBACK:
How yesterday’s Post told the story. (
)
The obesity-fueled diabetes epidemic is driving up health-insurance costs for all policyholders and taxpayer-financed health-care programs by more than 10 percent, a new study shows.
That means healthier policyholders are paying hundreds of dollars more a year just to cover the exploding medical costs of diabetes patients who suffer from what is often a preventable disease.
“The diabetes costs are borne by all the people who pay health-care premiums,” said New York Health Foundation VP David Sandman.
An analysis by the American Diabetes Foundation found that care for people with diabetes accounts for more than one in 10 health-care dollars spent in the US — or a staggering $245 billion. Of that, $176 million is pegged to direct medical costs and $69 billion to lost economic productivity, such as worker absenteeism, disability and early death.
“More than one in every 10 health-care dollars is attributed to diabetes. This estimate highlights the substantial burden that diabetes imposes on society,” the foundation study concluded.
The Bloomberg administration this week reported that 10.5 percent of New York City adults, or close to 650,000, have the disease. That’s an increase of 200,000 people with diabetes since 2002.
About 2 million New Yorkers statewide have diabetes and 4 million others are at risk — including 1 million who are obese.
Diabetes, when not properly monitored, triggers life-threatening ailments, including heart attack, stroke and kidney failure, and boosts the odds of limb amputation and blindness.
And it costs a fortune to help the sickest diabetic patients with multiple medical complications.
Data from the NY Health Foundation and others show:
* Health-care costs for a person with diabetes is more than five times higher than for those without it — $13,000 versus $2,500.
* The number of patients with diabetes admitted to a hospital increased 30 percent from 2000 to 2009.
* People with diabetes are 2.4 times more likely to be readmitted to a hospital than other patients.
In order to improve treatments and curb costs, health insurers and the government have launched new programs to help patients with diabetes better manage their illness through regular check-ups and weight-loss programs.
The state is even using $2 million in federal funds to provide diabetic Medicaid recipients with $250 in cash bonuses just for showing up at medical appointments and better monitoring their blood pressure and weight.