Can Obama's Plan Tackle Diabetes

Diabetes will be a huge burden on President Obama’s plan to expand and improve healthcare coverage. Epinex Diagnostics has developed a new device to monitor diabetes that could relieve the burden of diabetes on our healthcare system.

Diabetes eats up an enormous chunk of our current healthcare resources. It has become the greatest healthcare crisis of our time, affecting one in three Americans. How will the diabetes epidemic be controlled? In 2007, direct medical costs for diabetes totaled $116 billion, a 32% increase since 2002. Despite current efforts to manage the epidemic, the toll of diabetes continues to spiral out of control. However, pouring more resources into ineffective programs will only waste money.

The medical community must embrace a shift from treating ill patients to preventing illness in healthy people. In an unprecedented commitment to a new, more effective approach to healthcare, President Obama has taken the challenge to keep raging costs under control by proposing the "largest investment ever" in preventative care and by appointing a Surgeon General who advocates preventative care as a way to improve lives and decrease overall health-care costs.

Self-management of diabetes linked to a community or corporate-based wellness support system is one key to improving health and reducing costs. The evidence is clear, based on the outcomes of The Asheville Project and the Diabetes Ten City Challenge. A new paradigm of diabetes care based on monthly consultation is working! The monthly Epinex G1A™ Test to monitor diabetes will supply the missing link to successfully meet the challenge of diabetes.