American Diabetes Association

SnackWell’s Sugar-Free Lemon Creme cookies have nearly as many calories as some sugar-rich cookies. Yet until recently the box featured an American Diabetes Association logo, advertising the cookie as a “proud sponsor” of the charity’s efforts on behalf of the nation’s 21 million diabetics.

Foods like the Sugar-Freedom Eskimo Pie and Frosted Shredded Wheat have also sported the American Diabetes Association logo over the years. The companies paid the A.D.A. to be associated with a respected voice for healthful eating. The association wanted the money to finance its uphill battle against a widening epidemic of Type 2 diabetes, which is associated with obesity.

Read the article here.

Type I and II diabetes

Type 1 Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. An autoimmune disease results when the body's system for fighting infection (the immune system) turns against a part of the body. In diabetes, the immune system attacks the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas and destroys them. The pancreas then produces little or no insulin. A person who has type 1 diabetes must take insulin daily to live.

At present, scientists do not know exactly what causes the body's immune system to attack the beta cells, but they believe that autoimmune, genetic, and environmental factors, possibly viruses, are involved. Type 1 diabetes accounts for about 5 to 10 percent of diagnosed diabetes in the United States. It develops most often in children and young adults, but can appear at any age.

Symptoms of type 1 diabetes usually develop over a short period, although beta cell destruction can begin years earlier. Symptoms include increased thirst and urination, constant hunger, weight loss, blurred vision, and extreme fatigue. If not diagnosed and treated with insulin, a person with type 1 diabetes can lapse into a life-threatening diabetic coma, also known as diabetic ketoacidosis.

Type 2 Diabetes

The most common form of diabetes is type 2 diabetes. About 90 to 95 percent of people with diabetes have type 2. This form of diabetes is associated with older age, obesity, family history of diabetes, previous history of gestational diabetes, physical inactivity, and ethnicity. About 80 percent of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight.

Type 2 diabetes is increasingly being diagnosed in children and adolescents. However, nationally representative data on prevalence of type 2 diabetes in youth are not available.

When type 2 diabetes is diagnosed, the pancreas is usually producing enough insulin, but for unknown reasons, the body cannot use the insulin effectively, a condition called insulin resistance. After several years, insulin production decreases. The result is the same as for type 1 diabetes--glucose builds up in the blood and the body cannot make efficient use of its main source of fuel.

The symptoms of type 2 diabetes develop gradually. Their onset is not as sudden as in type 1 diabetes. Symptoms may include fatigue or nausea, frequent urination, unusual thirst, weight loss, blurred vision, frequent infections, and slow healing of wounds or sores. Some people have no symptoms.

Gestational Diabetes

Gestational diabetes develops only during pregnancy. Like type 2 diabetes, it occurs more often in African Americans, American Indians, Hispanic Americans, and among women with a family history of diabetes. Women who have had gestational diabetes have a 20 to 50 percent chance of developing type 2 diabetes within 5 to 10 years.

(from the National Institute of Health)

Living with diabetes

Article on daily life with diabetes.

People may not be as familiar with type 2 diabetes as with type 1, which is also known as childhood diabetes. But actually, type 2 diabetes is the more common variety.

In this type of diabetes, the body either does not produce enough insulin, or the cells ignore the insulin, making it impossible for the body to use sugar, a basic fuel for the cells in the body. This starves the body for energy, and high blood glucose levels may damage a person's eyes, kidneys, nerves or heart. It can begin later in life, with many people, like Bouchard, not being diagnosed until middle age.

Bouchard has had type 2 diabetes for 20 years, and has been injecting insulin for 10.

Medicare coverage of diabetes supplies

Good artical on Self-testing equipment and supplies:

Medicare Part B covered diabetes supplies: Coverage for glucose monitors, test strips, and lancets.

Who is covered: All people with Medicare who have diabetes (insulin users and non-users).

Medicare covers the same supplies for people with diabetes whether or not they use insulin. These include glucose testing monitors, blood glucose test strips, lancet devices and lancets, and glucose control solutions. There may be some limits on supplies or how often you get them. For more information about diabetic supplies, call your Durable Medical Equipment Regional Carrier.

How to get your diabetes equipment and supplies: To get your diabetes equipment and supplies under Medicare, you need a prescription from your doctor. The prescription should say:

• You have been diagnosed with diabetes.
• How many test strips and lancets you need in a month.
• What kind of meter you need. For example, if you need a special meter for vision problems, the doctor should say that and state the medical reason why you need a special meter.
• Whether you use insulin or not.
• How often you should test your blood sugar.

Diabetes increasing for youngsters

From USA Today.

About one in every 523 young people have been diagnosed with diabetes, according to the first comprehensive assessment of the disease in Americans under 20.

That places diabetes among the more common chronic illnesses of youth, the researchers report, striking 1.82 children per 1,000, compared with 1.24 per 1,000 with cancer and 120 per 1,000 with asthma.

Senior having problems with the medicare doughnut hole

Washington Post article on politicle fallout from Medicare Part D.

The doughnut hole ends federal payments for a person's drug purchases once an annual spending limit is reached, resuming them only after the beneficiary has spent thousands of dollars out-of-pocket. It was one of the most contentious elements of the 2003 legislation that created the drug benefit, which was championed by the Bush administration and congressional Republicans.

Hypoglycemia - also called low blood sugar

Here is a artical on hypoglycemia from a diabetes testing supply company.

Hypoglycemia, also called low blood sugar, occurs when your blood glucose (blood sugar) level drops too low to provide enough energy for your body's activities. In adults or children older than 10 years, hypoglycemia is uncommon except as a side effect of diabetes treatment, but it can result from other medications or diseases, hormone or enzyme deficiencies, or tumors.

Symptoms of hypoglycemia include

• hunger
• nervousness and shakiness
• perspiration
• dizziness or light-headedness
• sleepiness
• confusion
• difficulty speaking
• feeling anxious or weak

Hypoglycemia can also happen while you are sleeping. You might

• cry out or have nightmares
• find that your pajamas or sheets are damp from perspiration
• feel tired, irritable, or confused when you wake up

Diabetes testing supply company

Here is a good artical about Liberty Medical - the mail order diabetes supply company.

PolyMedica's main business is providing diabetes testing supplies -- namely test strips and lancets -- directly to the consumer. A smaller but rapidly growing pharmacy segment markets and sells prescription medications to diabetes patients. This segment is anticipating explosive growth from sales related to Part D of the Medicare Modernization Act, which gives Medicare beneficiaries access to prescription drug benefits.

Sounds great, right? But here's the trouble with PolyMedica. First, it's not exactly making a lot of money, although it would like you to believe that it is. One of its largest expenses is what is known as direct-response advertising (DRA). Accounting provisions allow specific expenses spent for the purposes of long-term customer attraction and retention to be capitalized and expensed over a longer time frame. For example, in the fiscal year ended this March, the company spent $59.5 million on DRA but only recognized an expense of $42.4 million, an amortized amount representing small chunks of DRA expenditures from years prior. The result? Pre-tax profit gets a $17.1 million boost. It's an acceptable, but aggressive, form of accounting.

Diabetes and Alheimer's link

From the NYT's.

Several new studies suggest that diabetes increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, adding to a store of evidence that links the disorders. The studies involve only Type 2 diabetes, the most common kind, which is usually related to obesity.

The connection raises an ominous prospect: that increases in diabetes, a major concern in the United States and worldwide, may worsen the rising toll from Alzheimer’s. The findings also add dementia to the cloud of threats that already hang over people with diabetes, including heart disease, strokes, kidney failure, blindness and amputations.

But some of the studies also hint that measures to prevent or control diabetes may lower the dementia risk, and that certain diabetes drugs should be tested to find whether they can help Alzheimer’s patients, even those without diabetes. Current treatments for Alzheimer’s can provide only a modest improvement in symptoms and cannot stop the progression of the disease.

Diabetes treatment

Diabetes article in NYT about treatment.

A new study finds that transplants of insulin-making cells, which reversed severe diabetes in an initial trial, have not lived up to their early promise.

The patients had severe Type 1 diabetes, also called juvenile diabetes, in which the body lacks insulin and people must inject it several times a day to control blood sugar. They were given islet cells from the pancreas of a dead organ donor.

Cell transplants are being studied primarily in people with Type 1 diabetes, which affects about a million people in the United States. It occurs when a person’s immune system, for unknown reasons, attacks the pancreas cells that make insulin.

Type 2 diabetes is different, and far more common, affecting about 20 million in the United States. Patients produce insulin, but their bodies cannot use it properly. The disease is genetic, but often develops only when someone who has the genes for it also becomes overweight. Type 2 is increasing in many countries as obesity rises. (Type 1 is not linked to obesity.)

Medicare monthly premiums rise in 2007

The standard Medicare Part B monthly premium will be $93.50 in 2007, an increase of $5 or 5.6% from the current $88.50, CMS reported last week.

The increase is less than the projected 6% increase in per capita national health spending for 2007 and the projected 7% increase for 2007 retail prescription drug spending. In addition, more than one-fourth of beneficiaries can receive assistance that pays for their entire Part B premium, CMS stated.

Premiums and Deductibles for 2007:

Part A Premium: $410 (paid by about 1 percent of beneficiaries)

Part A deductible: $992

Part B standard premium: $93.50

Part B deductible: $131

From hmenews.com

Diabetes Information

Here is a information article about diabetes statistics and links to some good infomation about diabetes testing and supplies.

Type 2 Diabetes link with sleep

Poor Sleep, Poor Blood Sugar Control May Go Together, Study Shows

If you've got type 2 diabetes, poor sleep may mean worse blood sugar control, a study shows.

Hemoglobin A1c levels were worse in participants who said they got too little sleep and other participants who reported poor-quality sleep.

Diabetes in India

Another lengthy and informative article from the New York Times about diabetes. This time they focus on India instead of New York City.

The future looks only more ominous as India hurtles into the present, modernizing and urbanizing at blinding speed. Even more of its 1.1 billion people seem destined to become heavier and more vulnerable to Type 2 diabetes, a disease of high blood sugar brought on by obesity, inactivity and genes, often culminating in blindness, amputations and heart failure. In 20 years, projections are that there may be a staggering 75 million Indian diabetics.

“Diabetes unfortunately is the price you pay for progress,” said Dr. A. Ramachandran, the managing director of the M.V. Hospital for Diabetes, in Chennai (formerly Madras).

For decades, Type 2 diabetes has been the “rich man’s burden,” a problem for industrialized countries to solve.

But as the sugar disease, as it is often called, has penetrated the United States and other developed nations, it has also trespassed deep into the far more populous developing world.

Medicare cuts to doctors

Congress is once again messing things up with Medicare and seniors.

The Bush administration and Republican-led Congress are headed for a political confrontation with an influential constituency: the 700,000 doctors who treat seniors in the Medicare program and are frantically trying to stave off a planned cut in their fees.

The American Medical Assn. said Thursday that doctors may stop taking seniors as new patients — or even drop out of the program — if the cuts go through. It has launched a nationwide blitz to persuade Congress to rescind a 5.1% cut planned for next year, insisting that lawmakers act before they adjourn in October to campaign for reelection.

How to reduce your diabetes risk

Here is an article about preventitive methods to reduce diabetes risk.

Individuals at risk for developing type 2 diabetes who are prescribed the drug metformin should stick with it, doctors say. In a large study, individuals who adhered to a metformin-based diabetes preventive strategy had a reduced risk of developing diabetes, they report.

The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) investigated the value of intensive lifestyle intervention (diet and exercise) or metformin in delaying or preventing type 2 diabetes in high-risk individuals with impaired glucose tolerance, a precursor to full-blown diabetes.

Medicare to adjust premium to income

Medicare will soon base its monthly premium on your income level.

The basic Medicare premium will rise next year to $93.50 a month, an increase of $5 a month, the Bush administration announced Tuesday, but for the first time, higher-income beneficiaries will be required to pay a surcharge.

The standard premium is lower than expected. In May and again in July, Medicare officials estimated that it would be about $98 a month in 2007.

The premium in question is for Part B of Medicare, a voluntary program that covers doctors’ services, diagnostic tests and outpatient hospital care for 40 million people who are 65 and older or disabled. It shot up 50 percent from 2003 to 2006, when it reached $88.50 a month.

Medical experts warn of obesity and diabetes pandemic

An obesity pandemic threatens to overwhelm health systems around the globe with illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease, experts at an international conference warned Sunday.

The World Health Organization says more than 1 billion adults are overweight and 300 million of them are obese, putting them at much higher risk of diabetes, heart problems, high blood pressure, stroke and some forms of cancer.

Hispanics Run A Greater Risk of Diabetes

Hispanics run greater risk of diabetes because of diet.

About 20.8 million Americans have diabetes, which was the sixth leading cause of death in 2002, according to the American Diabetes Association. Mirroring a national trend, about 7.4 percent of Orange County residents have the disease.

Diabetes disproportionately affects Hispanics and blacks. Mexican-Americans, for example, are 1.7 times more likely to get diabetes than non-Hispanic whites, according to the diabetes association.

How To Eat To Prevent Or Treat Diabetes - ADA

Good article from the ADA about Diabetes prevention and treatment.

Whether you're trying to prevent diabetes, better manage your disease or slow complications from developing, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) has developed specific guidelines to help you choose the right meal plan to get you to your goals.

For people who are at risk for diabetes, the guidelines call for a diet high in fiber and nutrient-rich foods (14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories), with whole grains making up half of all grain intake. In emphasizing the importance of weight loss, they note that medications may be useful for some individuals if combined with lifestyle changes, and that for the very obese, weight loss surgery has shown considerable health benefits. They also caution people who use meal replacements to lose weight that research finds the weight loss is only maintained as long as people stay on the meal replacement plan. Exercise is recommended independent of weight loss because studies show it helps lower blood glucose levels, increases insulin sensitivity, and improves cardiovascular risk factors regardless of whether the person loses any weight.

Medicare wants seniors to repay

Medicare wants the over payments sent back to them. They are being flexible about the repayments though. There are also criminals trying to take advantage by call seniors and asking for bank information.

Operators will be able to answer whether beneficiaries were affected by the glitch. They also can help people arrange to have the repayments withdrawn from their bank account and transferred electronically to the federal government, though this option will require that seniors provide personal banking information to the operator.

Some seniors may have received more than $500. For those who need to pay that money back gradually, people can ask to make up to seven monthly payments. Lawmakers had called on CMS to give seniors plenty of time to give the money back. The same toll-free number should be used for beneficiaries wanting installment plans.

To prevent fraud, CMS asked seniors not to give out any personal information to anybody calling offering help with the reimbursement. Medicare will not call anybody effected by the glitch.

New Glucose Meter from Abbott Diabetes

On March 13, 2006, Abbott Diabetes Care of Alameda, California, announced that it has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market its FreeStyle Freedom blood glucose-monitoring system for consumer use.

According to Abbott, FreeStyle Freedom measures glucose levels using 0.3 microliters of blood—“the smallest sample size required of any blood glucose-monitoring product on the market.” FreeStyle Freedom also provides results in five seconds and features a large, high-contrast display, making it easy to read and easy to hold.

Medicare coverage of diabetes supplies

Here is an article detailing Medicare's coverage of diabetes testing supplies. Here is the basic breakdown:

Product	For insulin treated patients	For non-insulin treated patients
Blood Glucose Monitoring Systems	1 every 5 years	1 every 5 years
Test Strips	100 per month	100 every 3 months
Lancing Device	1 every 6 months	1 every 6 month
Lancets	100 per month	100 every 3 months
Control Solution	1 every month	1 every month
Batteries	1-2 every year	1-2 every year

Your doctor may recommend that you test more often than the guidelines allow for. In which case you are authorized for that number of tests per day. The doctor will need to give the reasons why more tests are needed.

Pomegranate may benefit diabetes patients

I always make fun of my wife about drinking pomegranate juice, but I guess she will have the last laugh. Click here for the whole article.

Diabetes patients who drank pomegranate juice had a reduced risk for arteriosclerosis and a reduced uptake of "bad" cholesterol, an Israeli study finds.

Technion-Israel Institute of Technology researchers had 20 subjects drink 6 ounces of pomegranate juice per day for three months. The study, published in the journal Arteriosclerosis, found the participants experienced a reduced risk for arteriosclerosis, a condition that leads to arterial wall thickening and hardening. Arteriosclerosis accounts for 80 percent of all deaths among diabetic patients.

The researchers also found that drinking pomegranate juice reduced the uptake of oxidized LDL -- "bad" cholesterol.

Lead researcher Michael Aviram, of the Technion Faculty of Medicine, says that sugars contained in pomegranate juice did not worsen diabetes disease parameters -- including blood sugar levels -- in the patients.

"In most juices, sugars are present in free -- and harmful -- forms," explained Aviram. "In pomegranate juice, however, the sugars are attached to unique antioxidants, which actually make these sugars protective against arteriosclerosis."

Obesity and Medicare spending on chronic diseases like diabetes.

Here is a good article from USA Today about obesity and Medicare spending on chronic diseases like diabetes.

Obesity and certain chronic conditions were major factors driving virtually all Medicare spending growth for the past 15 years, according to a new analysis of Medicare cost and patient data. The rate of obesity among Medicare patients doubled from 1987 to 2002, and spending on those individuals more than doubled, according to economists Kenneth Thorpe and David Howard.
Their study appeared Tuesday on the website of the journal Health Affairs.
"What this study tells us is that we need to aggressively put in place interventions to deal with obesity and chronic disease prevalence among the elderly to control spending," said Thorpe, chairman of the Department of Health Policy Management at Emory University.
In 1987, 11.7% of the Medicare population was considered obese. That number grew to 22.5% of Medicare enrollees by 2002.
Spending on medical care for obese Medicare patients was 9.4% of the federal government program's budget in 1987 but jumped to 24.8% by 2002, according to the analysis.
Physicians also are becoming more aggressive in treating patients who have a cluster of cardiovascular-related risk factors such as diabetes, high blood pressure or low levels of "good" cholesterol, the study found.
Such treatment patterns are good news for seniors because it means many older men and women are living longer. But more elderly Americans living longer also increases the long-term costs of the Medicare program.
Total Medicare expenditures were $336 billion in 2005 and are projected to increase at a rapid clip as the first wave of the 75 million baby boomers reaches retirement age and Medicare eligibility in 2010.
In the past, most efforts to slow Medicare spending growth focused on cutting payments to hospitals, physicians and other health care providers.
These new research findings suggest policymakers should direct their attention toward programs that encourage healthier lifestyles among seniors and those nearing retirement, Thorpe said.

OneTouch Ultra2 Glucose Meter

The OneTouch Ultra2 Glucose Meter is getting terrific feedback from our Diabetes Supply customers at Totally Diabetes. OneTouch is also rolling out TV commercials featuring Patti LaBelle. I guess she is replacing B.B. King who was the OneTouch Ultra spokesperson.

It really is a great glucose meter. I have heard nothing but positive things about it. The OneTouch Ultra2 uses to same test strips as the Ultra did, which is very convenient. It is also covered by Medicare and private insurance.

Tips For Handling Summer Heat For People With Diabetes

Tips for diabetics from the Joslin Diabetes Center include:

* Keep hydrated.
* Watch for signs of heat exhaustion, especially if you are working or exercising outdoors. People with diabetes and other chronic diseases like heart disease are more susceptible to overheating.
* Check blood glucose levels with diabetes test strips and other diabetes supplies at least four times a day, and more often if you are not feeling well. Remember that heat can cause blood glucose levels to fluctuate.
* Store your blood glucose meter, diabetes test strips and insulin in a cool, dry place.

Diabetes and Obesity

Another good article about diabetes and obsity.

The Department of Health and Human Services says obesity may account for 300,000 deaths a year, making it the second-most-common preventable cause of death after cigarette smoking. It’s been linked to various diseases: diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, gallbladder disease, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis and some cancers.

Some scientists, including Jeffrey Gordon’s colleagues at Washington University, are trying to see whether the ailments of obesity (especially diabetes and high blood pressure) might be caused not by the added weight per se, but by the associated inflammation.

Comparing diabetes test strips and glucometers

Here is an pretty amazing chart comparing diabetes test strips and glucose meters!! I put it together myself so let me know if you see anything wrong in there.

Testing blood glucose for diabetics

Here is some excellent information for diabetics about testing your blood glucose. It also give some actions to take for insulin and non-insulin diabetes patients.

132 co-sponcers of Medicare Hobson-Tanner Bill

There are now 132 co-sponsors of the Hobson-Tanner Bill. I am finally starting to be optimistic about at least passing this bill. I would prefer getting rid of the competitive bidding all together. Hopefully when Bill Thomas retires this will be on the table as well. Competitive bidding is really a disgrace to american capitalism and is hard to believe Republicans were behind it. I read the Orrin Hatch was going to introduce a similar bill in the Senate. God bless him.

Medicare accreditation for competitive bidding

Today the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule that establishes requirements for accreditation of Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS) suppliers and lays the groundwork for timely implementation of the Medicare DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program. These new accreditation requirements will result in improved quality DMEPOS items and services for Medicare beneficiaries.

This final rule details the application process for independent accrediting organizations that would apply quality standards for all DMEPOS suppliers, including suppliers that would participate in the Medicare DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program. CMS expects to publish the quality standards in the near future.

The final rule also codifies a provision of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) that permits CMS to use contractors to assist in the implementation of the Medicare DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program and describes CMS’ plans for a DMEPOS competitive bidding education and outreach campaign.

To view the press release, go to http://www.cms.hhs.gov/apps/media/press/release.asp?Counter=1924 on the CMS website.

To view the display version of the final rule (CMS-1540-F), go to http://www.cms.hhs.gov/inpatientrehabfacpps/downloads/cms_1540f.pdf or http://www.cms.hhs.gov/CompetitiveAcqforDMEPOS/02_regsnotices.asp on the CMS website.

For more information about the Medicare DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program, go to http://www.cms.hhs.gov/CompetitiveAcqforDMEPOS/01_overview.asp on the CMS website.

Medicare payment cuts to doctors in doubt

Looks like congress has come to there senses and will not impose medicare cuts on doctors fees.

It will cost billions of dollars to override required cuts in Medicare payments to doctors, but the perennial stopgap move is necessary to ensure that patients receive the health care they need, lawmakers said Tuesday.

A program set up in 1997 to put the brakes on federal Medicare spending sets annual and cumulative spending targets for physician reimbursements. When spending increases exceed economic growth, payments to doctors are supposed to be cut.

Under the system, payments to doctors would have to be cut by 5 percent a year through 2016 to meet program spending targets, according to federal estimates.

That is unlikely to happen. Lawmakers fear that any reduction in payments could add to the record increases in Medicare premiums and drive doctors from the program.

Rep. Michael Ferguson, R-N.J., said the mandated cuts system is "fatally flawed and it's time we start writing its obituary today."

Diabetes and Obesity in Children

Another article about the shortening of Amercians life span due to diabetes and obesity.

Children who get obesity-related diabetes face a much higher risk of kidney failure and death by middle age than people who develop diabetes as adults, a study suggests.

The study offers some of the first strong evidence of the consequences of the nation's growing epidemic of Type 2 diabetes in children, said Dr. William Knowler, a co-author and researcher with the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

The research also lends support to warnings that diabetes and other obesity-related ills are on the verge of shortening average life span in the United States.


The researchers calculated that the incidence of end-stage kidney failure and death by age 55 was nearly five times higher in people who developed type 2 diabetes before age 20 than in those who developed diabetes in adulthood.

Medicare Coverage of Diabetes Testing Supplies

Here is some information on what Medicare patient has access to when it come to diabetes testing supplies. These include Glucose Meters, Test Strips, Lancets, control solution, batteries for the glucose meter and lancing devices.

Diabetes Increases Around the Globe

Diabetes is not just an issue in the United States. Diabetes is a growing disease around the globe especially in China and India.

"China has the largest number over age 20, around 39 million people, or about 2.7 percent of the adult population, the federation says. The group says India has the second-largest number of cases, with an estimated 30 million people, or about 6 percent of the adult population.

There are many factors driving the growth in diabetes worldwide, but most experts agree that changes in lifestyle and diet are the chief culprits, in addition to genetic predisposition. As developing countries industrialize, people tend to do work involving less physical activity and eat food that is cheap but high in calories. The combination causes weight gain, which leads to greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease."

Diabetes may shorten life span

In a New York Times article, the diabetes and obesity epidemic will threaten the upward trend in life expectancy.

Some worry, for example, that today’s fat children will grow up to be tomorrow’s heart disease and diabetes patients, destroying the nation’s gains in health and well-being.

“It is very legitimate to be concerned about levels of overweight and obesity in kids,” said David Williamson, a senior biomedical research scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “But at the same time, those levels of obesity are overlaid on improvements in health in children, which also affect long-term health and longevity.”

S. Jay Olshansky, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Illinois at Chicago, predicted in The New England Journal of Medicine that obesity would lead to so much diabetes and heart disease that life expectancy would “level off or even decline within the first half of this century.”

Information about taking care of diabetes with glucose monitoring

Here is an excellent page about using diabetes testing supplies and glucose monitoring to control diabetes.

Good news about coffee and diabetes

Drinking coffee is linked to a reduced risk for diabetes, a new study reports, and caffeine apparently has little to do with the effect.

With less Medicare funding for dialysis diabetes education is critical.

With less Medicare funding for dialysis diabetes education is critical.

Medicare funding per person for dialysis is at the same level as it was in 1983. This is one more reason to be vigilant about maintaining low blood glucose levels through daily monitoring and quartly testing of A1c levels.

"Combined with a growing elderly population more prone to kidney failure the
number of people on dialysis is expected to double to 800,000 by 2010, and reach 2.2 million by 2030 — and dialysis care could reach a tipping point if nothing is done.

Education is important because the leading causes of kidney failure are two preventable diseases diabetes and high blood pressure, said Vinay Kantamneni, medical director at the dialysis center. The typical dialysis patient is over 60 and on Medicare."

"Kantamneni said if
preventative treatment is started immediately on people already with
diabetes, life expectancy can be raised and dialysis delayed by several
years."

Pharmacists oppose Medicare rule because of diabetes supplies impact.

Pharmacists oppose Medicare rule because of diabetes supplies impact. I have read anywhere that competitive bidding is a good idea. I guess the point is to save money, but the effect on service will be dramatic.

"Millions of Medicare beneficiaries would face decreased access to durable medical equipment, such as wheelchairs and diabetes test strips, if a proposed rule by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) takes effect, according to the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA)."

"The so-called "Competitive Acquisition Program" developed by CMS creates huge administrative burdens for pharmacists that could affect the availability of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies (DMEPOS), as well as Medicare Part B medications, immunizations, therapeutic shoes, diabetes supplies, and nebulizers. The proposed rule would require pharmacists to obtain additional accreditation and submit to a competitive bidding process in order to continue to sell these essential supplies to Medicare beneficiaries beginning in 2007."

Medicare users beware of the doughnut hole

Here is a good article on potential costly suprises concerning the new Medicare drug benefit. It is commonly refered to as the doughnut hole, where seniors are hit by a coverage gap and must pay 100% of their drug costs over $2250 until they've used $5,100 worth.

Medicare monthly premium set to increase for 2007

Premiums for Medicare Part B will be going up again next year the AP reports. The current premium is $88.50 and will be raised to at least $98.50.
"The elderly will face another double-digit rise in their Medicare premiums next year, resulting in monthly payments of nearly $100.
The monthly premiums for supplementary medical insurance will rise from $88.50 to at least $98.40, the Bush administration projected Tuesday. That's an 11.2 percent increase, and it's possible the amount will be slightly higher."

Medicare Competitive Bidding for mail order diabetes suppliers

The Medicare Competitive Bidding program seems to be rolling forward but it has me throughly confused. My questions resolve around what it means for mail order companies such as ourselves. According to the latest news from Medicare, it will accept bids for the top 10 MSA except for LA, NYC in the Fall of 2006 for a yet to be determined list of HCPCS codes. So to participate in these markets a company will have to be successful during the bidding process. But the latest doc also discusses creating both regional and national mail order territories sometime in 2008-2009. Is the MSA bidding only for local retailers. Can mail order companies still accept new customers in these MSA's. Or must mail order companies compete in every MSA's bidding?

Diabetes and Alzeheimers

Another excellent article on Diabetes from The New York Times. This one examines the link between Diabetes and Alzheimer's. Once again, stressing the need to keep blood glucose levels low even among the elderly.

"Several new studies suggest that diabetes increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, adding to a store of evidence that links the disorders. The studies involve only Type 2 diabetes, the most common kind, which is usually related to obesity.

Not everyone with diabetes gets Alzheimer’s, and not all Alzheimer’s patients are diabetic. But in the past decade, several large studies have found that compared with healthy people of the same age and sex, those with Type 2 diabetes are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s. The reason is not known, but researchers initially suspected that cardiovascular problems caused by diabetes might contribute to dementia by blocking blood flow to the brain or causing strokes.

Researchers have even suggested that Alzheimer’s disease may actually be “Type 3 diabetes,” a form of the disease affecting the nervous system."