Study Misses the Mark
I got a little excited when I saw this headline on my Google news page: "Paying to Prevent Diabetes is Cost Effective". Further reading threw me for a bit of a loop, though.
"A study published in the June issue of the journal Diabetes Care has found that it would be cost effective for Medicare to pay for diabetes prevention at age 50 rather than to deny prevention benefits until age 65 when many individuals will have already developed the disease."
On the one hand, Yes! Prevention is more cost effective! Fodder for the fight!
"Sharing the costs of efforts to help the huge number of pre-diabetics in their 50s and early 60s alter their lifestyles would not cost private insurance companies or Medicare more than they would eventually have to pay for treatment for the large number of pre-diabetics who will develop diabetes after age 65 if no preventive treatment is supported. "
On the other hand... FIFTY??? Age FIFTY??? Lifestyle modifications at FIFTY?
Am I crazy, or does that seem a little late to be addressing the issue?
posted by Kassie @ 9:55 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Not Crazy. Lifestyle (let alone "lifestyle modification") should be addressed in preschool, kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, junior high, high school, college, MBA programs, Ph d. programs, etc., etc. But then, as the saying goes: You can lead a horse to water...
It's quite an uphill battle to expect education and self-motivation to surmount the onslaught of calories and marketing that constantly surround us. There's just too large a disadvantage when the (mostly intellectual) benefits of long-term health have to battle the constant pressing of the pleasure button one experiences when eating carbs and sweets and fats and salty items. The short-term rewards for a healthy lifestyle pale in comparison. There needs to be a way to make healthy choices as addictive as unhealthy choices currently are. Figure out how to do that, and you're really on to something.
And from a public policy perspective, the whole extending Medicare part is really difficult to swallow. Was this suggesting Medicare only be extended to pre-diabetics or "early retirees" in general? Seriously, though, the fiscal imbalance in Medicare is SUCH a larger problem than Social Security, it's truly frightening.
not crazy at all.
but hey, what do I know? I was merely diagnosed with type 2 at less than 29 years of age.
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