Guest AuthorWe are in the midst of a government shutdown over how we will approach healthcare in this country. This article is not about the shutdown, but it is about healthcare, or one aspect of it: diabetes.
I was 5 when my dad was diagnosed as a diabetic. He was 42. His dad, my grandfather, was almost 60 when he was diagnosed. Both men loved sweets, both were less active than they should have been. At some point they were both pre-diabetic. Then they were diabetic. Then they were insulin-dependent. And so it goes for too many Americans. 1 in 3 Americans are pre-diabetic, or looked at another way 79 Million people are on their way to becoming diabetic.
Last year the total cost of diagnosed diabetes in the United States was $245 billion. An individual living in the United States with diabetes has medical expenses that are 2.3 times that of a healthy person. The majority of these medical care costs, 62.4% is provided by government insurance (Medicare, Medicaid, Military). The number of diabetics in the U.S. has nearly tripled since the 1980s. While the number of people inflicted with this disease goes up so do the costs associated with their care.
But things are not all doom and gloom. In fact, there is a lot of hope on the horizon for people who, like my dad and his dad before him, are pre-diabetic. And it is a solution that is available right here in many of our communities at our local YMCA. A National Institute of Health (NIH) study in the late 1990s indicated that “lifestyle intervention” significantly prevented pre-diabetics from getting the disease, nearly 60% in fact. That led the NIH to team up with the YMCA, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and United Healthcare to create the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP). As Ryan Bradley, Senior Editor for Fortune Magazine, recently noted in an article titled “Health Apps Don’t Save People, People Do”– the DPP is “simple and cheap.”
The YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program is 12 months long and consists of 16 core sessions that focus on everything from healthy eating and reducing stress to physical activity and problem solving. The goal of the DPP is to get participants to lose 7% of their body weight and increase their physical activity to 150 minutes per week. The results? The program has been shown to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes by as much as 58% and as much as 71% among people 60 and older. Pretty good for a short ride to your local YMCA. The program can be found at 651 locations operated by the YMCA in 39 different states.
As for the cost, “it’s cheap,” especially when you consider the backdrop of $245 billion associated with the care of those with diabetes in the United States last year. While the cost of taking part in the program would set you back $400 or less, it may also be covered by your insurance. Especially if you are a United Health Care or Medicare customer.
The takeaway is twofold. First, we can find a great resource to receive preventive care for one disease at our local YMCA, and they can do it better and cheaper than government ever could. Second, sometimes simple and cheap can do the trick.
Find the Program at your local Florida YMCA:
Central Florida YMCA, Orlando
Florida’s First Coast YMCA – Metropolitan, Jacksonville
South County Family YMCA, Venice
Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA, Tampa
Volusia/Flagler Family YMCA, DeLand
YMCA of Greater St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg
YMCA of the Suncoast (Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando & Citrus County)
For more information, click here.
