American Diabetes Association Calls on Florida Legislators to Protect Children, Disabled and Poor People with Diabetes

Main Category: Diabetes
Article Date: 23 Apr 2005 - 0:00 PDT

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Budget proposals limiting access to diabetes medications and related needs will harm many Floridians -

The American Diabetes Association today called on the Florida legislature to fix proposals in the state budget that would harm the disabled, poor, near poor, and children with diabetes in the State of Florida. The latest draft of the budget places severe limits on the ability of people with diabetes in the Medicaid program to manage the disease, making it impossible to effectively manage diabetes from day to day. The American Diabetes Association believes these limits will lead to a dramatic increase in hospitalizations related to uncontrolled diabetes and to increases in diabetes related heart disease, kidney failure and blindness.

Provisions contained in budgets recently passed by the Florida House and Senate will limit how many prescriptions people with diabetes in the Medicaid program can fill each month. The limits are so extreme that the typical person with diabetes cannot manage their disease.

"Legislators in Florida need to understand the difficulty people have managing diabetes and the substantial prescription needs required to stay out of the emergency room. It is not possible to manage diabetes within the prescription limits envisioned by the Florida legislature. Legislators must understand that people with diabetes must have access to a range of varied medications to control the disease. Our legislators must reverse the envisioned punitive prescription drug limits for diabetes medications to avoid a diabetes catastrophe in Florida," said Larry Deeb, MD, of Tallahassee, and Vice President of the American Diabetes Association.

The limits proposed by Florida legislators restrict access to all self-care components of diabetes management for children, the poor and near poor, and those with disabilities in the Medicaid program. One provision limits children and the disabled with diabetes to only three name brand prescriptions per month.

Such a limit makes living with diabetes impossible because the typical person with the disease must fill prescriptions for insulin, insulin syringes, blood glucose monitoring supplies and oral medications each month.

Dr. Deeb added, "Florida has made substantial progress battling diabetes over the past decade. Several studies document that cases of kidney failure and blindness in people with diabetes are on the decline. Do our elected officials plan to reverse this progress? Florida's legislature must realize the importance of daily diabetes management. This can only occur by restoring the ability of people with diabetes in Medicaid to manage their disease by eliminating the extreme limits on prescriptions for diabetes needs."

Diabetes places a substantial toll on the state of Florida. One million Floridians -- or 7.6 percent of the State's population -- live with diabetes today. While 18.2 million Americans live with diabetes today, estimates suggest that one in three children born in the year 2000 will live with diabetes in their lifetime. In 2002, one in 10 health care dollars and one in four Medicare dollars went towards diabetes care. The cost of diabetes in America in 2002 was at least $132 billion.

The American Diabetes Association is the nation's leading voluntary health organization supporting diabetes research, information and advocacy. The Association's advocacy efforts include helping to combat discrimination against people with diabetes; advocating for the increase of federal diabetes research and programs; and improved access to, and quality of, healthcare for people with diabetes. The Association's mission is to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. Founded in 1940, the Association provides service to hundreds of communities across the country. For more information, please call the American Diabetes Association at 1-800-DIABETES (1-800-342-2383). Information is available in English and Spanish.

American Diabetes Association