Health Care Reform

DLC led 12 national diabetes advocacy organizations to develop a consensus statement on U.S. health care reform for people with diabetes. Their shared objective:

Articulate for policymakers and health care system stakeholders how our nation’s complicated health care and coverage system works for – and sometimes against – people with diabetes, and provide tangible ideas for improvement

Member organizations identified and prioritized reforms that matter most to people with diabetes covered by commercial insurance, Medicare or Medicaid. 

Public and private health plans generally cover long-term diabetes complications, including amputations, blindness, end stage renal disease, heart attack and stroke. Now is the time to ensure people with diabetes have adequate coverage for individualized care that can prevent or delay the onset of these costly and life limiting complications. The shift is better for people with diabetes and their families, and a wiser investment of heath care dollars for payers, especially in the face of a diabetes epidemic.

Key principles for diabetes health care reform

• Everyone deserves access to affordable and effective health care
• Diabetes care is preventive care. Long term health care costs for people with diabetes are lower when they have the medications, devices and services they need to manage their disease.
• National health care reform must address the roles and incentives of major stakeholders in the health care coverage, delivery and reimbursement systems, and realign their practices and obligations in support of patients’ rights to:
  • Understand the terms of their coverage;
  • Compare treatment costs and make informed decisions in collaboration with their health care providers; and
  • Affordably access individualized treatment needed to effectively manage chronic and acute health conditions

Download the full report to learn more

Coalition partners

• DLC
• Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists
• Beyond Type 1 
• Certification Board for Diabetes Care and Education 
• Children with Diabetes 
• College Diabetes Network 
• Diabetes Dietetic Practice Group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics 
• Diabetes Patient Advocacy Coalition 
• DiabetesSisters
• The diaTribe Foundation 
• JDRF
• T1D Exchange