PRINTER'S NO. 4205
No. 813 Session of 2004
INTRODUCED BY WASHINGTON, TIGUE, PISTELLA, MYERS, JAMES, THOMAS,
WATERS, READSHAW, ROEBUCK, KIRKLAND, HORSEY, GEORGE, DeWEESE
AND BEBKO-JONES, JUNE 29, 2004
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON INSURANCE, JUNE 29, 2004
A RESOLUTION
1 Supporting diabetic insurance coverage.
2 WHEREAS, Diabetes is a disease that affects the body's
3 ability to produce or respond to insulin and is the sixth-
4 leading cause of death and fifth-leading cause of death by
5 disease in the United States; and
6 WHEREAS, Diabetes is a disease with serious complications,
7 including blindness, kidney disease, amputations, heart attack
8 and stroke, and has no cure; and
9 WHEREAS, Approximately 2.3 million or 10.8% of all African
10 Americans have diabetes, and one-third of them do not know it;
11 and
12 WHEREAS, African Americans are 1.7 times more likely to have
13 diabetes than non-Hispanic whites and 25% of African Americans
14 between the ages of 65 and 74 have diabetes; and
15 WHEREAS, One in four African-American women over 55 years of
16 age has diabetes, and African Americans are twice as likely to
17 suffer from diabetes-related blindness; and
1 WHEREAS, Diabetes is the most frequent cause of nontraumatic
2 lower limb amputations, and among people with diabetes, African
3 Americans are 1.5 to 2.5 times more likely to suffer from lower
4 limb amputations; and
5 WHEREAS, Ten to twenty-one percent of all people with
6 diabetes develop kidney disease and African Americans with
7 diabetes are 2.6 to 5.6 times more likely to suffer from kidney
8 disease (end-stage renal disease) each year; and
9 WHEREAS, Ninety to ninety-five percent of African Americans
10 with diabetes have type 2, which is preventable, and two main
11 risk factors increase the chance of developing type 2: genetic
12 components and lifestyle, including obesity. Type 2 diabetes
13 could greatly be lowered within the African-American community
14 through proper diet and exercise. Education on healthy eating is
15 crucial to fighting the current twin epidemics of diabetes and
16 obesity with the African-American community; and
17 WHEREAS, The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial, a
18 multi-million dollar clinical research effort funded by the
19 National Institues of Health, proved beyond a shadow of a doubt
20 that keeping blood sugar in the normal range helps to prevent
21 the complications of diabetes; and
22 WHEREAS, Diabetes is a significantly self-managed disease
23 requiring constant attention on the part of the patient and
24 access to the tools needed to manage the disease; and
25 WHEREAS, Appropriate insurance coverage of the necessary
26 diabetes supplies, equipment and education is the only way to
27 ensure that people with diabetes have access to the tools they
28 need to prevent the deadly and costly complications of diabetes;
29 and
30 WHEREAS, Forty-three states have already enacted state
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1 legislation mandating state-regulated insurance plans to cover
2 the medically necessary supplies, equipment and education needed
3 to self-manage diabetes; therefore be it
4 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives support efforts
5 in the remaining states to require that insurance providers
6 cover the necessary supplies, equipment and education needed to
7 appropriately self-manage diabetes. The House of Representatives
8 also opposes efforts to roll back, weaken or eliminate existing
9 provisions that require insurance providers to cover the
10 necessary supplies, equipment and education needed to
11 appropriately self-manage this deadly, serious and costly
12 disease.
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