The Growing Cost of Diabetes

In 2013, the American Diabetes Association published a study that showed that the national cost of diabetes had increased to an estimate of $245 billion, a 41% increase from a study done in 2007.  If this trend remains steady, the national cost of diabetes could be nearing $350 billion by 2018.  Let's give that some perspective:

• $1,100 per person per year in America
• The cost to build 33 Gerald Ford class aircraft carriers (every year)
• The cost to pay the salaries of all US military personnel for 28 months
• The cost to fund the entire national transportation budget for 3.5 years
• 26 years of revenue for the NFL (based on 2016 estimated revenue)

That is a lot of money and this is just for diabetes.  If you were wondering why the cost of your insurance is going up, it is not just price gouging by the medical industry.  It is also due to that national epidemic of people consuming poor quality foods who's profitability is being subsidized by federal agricultural policy and very effective marketing.  

Now for the good news...it would cost individuals with diabetes very little to get most of this money back.  If people make the decision to vote with their dollars (and stomachs), most of this expense could be recovered by simply adopting a low carbohydrate, healthy fat, appropriate protein diet.  Many people, including me, have put their diabetes into remission by simply eliminating most processed foods and refined carbohydrates from their diet and replacing them with mostly whole unprocessed foods.