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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | April 29, 2021 01:26 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Doug Mastriano |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Establishing a Statewide Advisory Council on Diabetes |
| In the near future, I will be introducing legislation that will require the Department of Health to establish an ongoing statewide advisory council on diabetes. The purpose of this council is to promote diabetes awareness and prevention throughout the state, facilitate collaboration between state agencies, public and private health care organizations, develop programs and recommendations to help citizens with diabetes. In March of 2018 the Pennsylvania Joint State Government Commission published a report entitled Diabetes in Pennsylvania commissioned by House Resolution no. 936 of the 2014 session. The top recommendation of the study was for the General Assembly to establish an ongoing statewide advisory council on diabetes. Diabetes is a major health crisis. The American Diabetes Association confirms that minority groups such as African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Pacific Islanders and Asian Americans are at higher risk for type 2 diabetes than Caucasians. The American Diabetes Association states that 1,374,000 people in Pennsylvania, or 12% of the adult population, have diabetes. Of these, an estimated 325,000 have diabetes but don’t know it, greatly increasing their health risk. In addition, 3,505,000 people in Pennsylvania, 35.8% of the adult population, have pre-diabetes with blood glucose levels higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. Every year an estimated 63,000 people in Pennsylvania are diagnosed with diabetes. People with diabetes have medical expenses approximately 2.3 times higher than those who do not have diabetes. Total direct medical expenses for diagnosed diabetes in Pennsylvania were estimated at $9.3 billion in 2017. In addition, another $3.5 billion was spent on indirect costs from lost productivity due to diabetes. For these reasons the time is now to form a council to help citizens living with diabetes. Please join me in this worthwhile cause. |