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Though Millions Are at Risk for Diabetes, Medicare Struggles to Expand Prevention Program
Seattle Times ^ | July 19, 2021 | Harris Meyer

Posted on 07/24/2021 10:54:49 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Damon Diessner tried for years to slim down from his weight of more than 400 pounds, partly because his size embarrassed his wife but even more because his doctors told him he was at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. His hemoglobin A1c level, a blood-sugar marker, was 6.3%, just below the diabetes range of 6.5%.

Then, two years ago, one of his doctors helped get him into a YMCA-run Diabetes Prevention Program not far from his home in Redmond. The group classes, at first held in person and then via Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic, were led by a lifestyle coach.

He learned how to eat better, exercise more and maintain a healthier lifestyle overall. He now weighs 205 pounds, with an A1c level of 4.8%, which is in the normal range.

“This has been a life-changing program,” said Diessner, 68, an environmental consultant. “My cardiologist said you have clearly beaten diabetes. I tell everyone who has blood-sugar issues or just wants to lose weight that this is the thing to do.”

Over the past decade, tens of thousands of American adults of all ages have taken these diabetes-prevention classes with personalized coaching at YMCAs, hospitals, community health centers and other sites. But out of an estimated 16 million Medicare beneficiaries whose excess weight and risky A1c level make them eligible, only 3,600 have participated since Medicare began covering the two-year Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program in 2018, according to the federal government’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services).

Researchers and people who run diabetes-prevention efforts said participation is low because of the way Medicare has set up the program. It pays program providers too little: a maximum of $704 per participant, and usually much less, for dozens of classes over two years.

(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.com ...


TOPICS: Education; Health/Medicine; Local News
KEYWORDS: diabetes; health; medicare
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1 posted on 07/24/2021 10:54:49 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

This guy doesn't get out in the sun much.
2 posted on 07/24/2021 10:56:11 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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Imagine a world without middle aisles...


3 posted on 07/24/2021 11:00:42 PM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: nickcarraway

Nobody needs a ‘program’ to treat diabetes. To a certain point, it’s 100% reversible.

This is nothing but a story about dependence. Rather pathetic, actually, if you think about it.


4 posted on 07/24/2021 11:04:00 PM PDT by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -)
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To: nickcarraway
I was diagnosed in '00, probably had it several years' prior, and as my doctor says, you don't beat diabetes. You manage diabetes. You live with diabetes. This guy did good with managing his weight and diet, but it'll always be lurking in the background. Every woman on my mother's side of the family died of it, my father had it, and as a nurse, she knew it was only a matter of time before the first symptoms and markers manifested themselves in me. And it's a bloody waking nightmare.
5 posted on 07/24/2021 11:06:24 PM PDT by Viking2002 (Remember, all the world’s a barstool.)
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To: Viking2002

I think the science on diabetes has advanced since 2002, and some more forward-thinking doctors don’t think of it the same way any more. Have you ever read anything by Jason Fung?


6 posted on 07/24/2021 11:15:27 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: Viking2002

Diabetes is a dietary disease. You can beat it. But not by listening to what has been conventional medical/nutritional wisdom.


7 posted on 07/24/2021 11:24:05 PM PDT by mlo
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To: mlo

Yep, the current thinking is that it is “metabolic syndrome” of which diabetes is the end stage.


8 posted on 07/24/2021 11:40:55 PM PDT by glorgau
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To: nickcarraway

He looks like an “environmental consultant”.


9 posted on 07/25/2021 12:09:58 AM PDT by Laslo Fripp (The Sybil of Free Republic)
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To: Viking2002
Search LCHF. Lots of good information. “Low carb down under” a good YouTube channel with lots of seminars on diabetes and is almost always reversible
10 posted on 07/25/2021 12:16:32 AM PDT by Greg67
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To: nickcarraway
Though Millions Are at Risk for Diabetes, Medicare Struggles to Expand Prevention Program

Though there exists potential problem X, still there is the outrage of less funding for bloated ineffective agency Y than the bureaucracy would prefer.

11 posted on 07/25/2021 12:18:41 AM PDT by AndyTheBear
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To: Viking2002

Type 2 can be beaten through diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes.


12 posted on 07/25/2021 12:54:08 AM PDT by Thunder90 (All posts soley represent my own opinion.)
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To: nickcarraway

Who is Jason Fung?


13 posted on 07/25/2021 1:35:18 AM PDT by Viking2002 (Remember, all the world’s a barstool.)
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To: Thunder90

I’ve lived with it for 25 years, at least, and did reduce my A1C to 5.5 at one point through a healthy diet and lots of exercise. Metabolism and other factors come into play, not just lifestyle and diet.


14 posted on 07/25/2021 1:38:06 AM PDT by Viking2002 (Remember, all the world’s a barstool.)
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To: Viking2002

Jason Fung is a kidney doctor that treats diabetics with intermittent and long term fasting. He says a calorie is not a calorie.

Obviously, 100 calories of Orioes is different from 100 calories of broccoli.

He has a youtube channel about reversing diabetes. And he’s written a few books. “The Obesity Code” is his most famous.


15 posted on 07/25/2021 2:10:59 AM PDT by JohnnyP (Thinking is hard work (I stole that from Rush).)
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To: nickcarraway

Teach people the truth about humans consuming sugar: it’s ALWAYS INFLAMMATORY!!!

Consuming sugar damages human mitochondria throughout the body & is 100% unnecessary for extraordinary health. It is also extremely addictive!

Fructose = sucrose = inflammation which leads directly to mental illness, auto immune issues & metabolic dysfunction.

We’ve been taught to eat garbage under the false premise that sugar, plants & carbs are “healthy”. If America went low carb, you’d see a significant drop in the day to day rage & dissatisfaction with their lives plus feel so much better!!!

https://rumble.com/vfc1kr-carnivore-anecdotes-mikhaila-peterson-podcast-69.html


16 posted on 07/25/2021 2:29:22 AM PDT by TheStickman (#MAGA all day every day!)
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To: logi_cal869

To be fair there are millions, arguably 50% of the population, who take their cues from the government. Whatever the government says is gospel. They wouldn’t hurt us after all.

Meanwhile, since the 1980s the US FDA has prescribed a diet “rich in whole grains.” Since then, incidence of diabetes and heart disease have skyrocketed. The pharmaceutical industry has made billions off of statins and other “medically necessary” drugs. And the wheat industry continues to thrive.

Wheat. Wheat is the problem. I wonder if we’ll see a reversal in my lifetime. I doubt it.


17 posted on 07/25/2021 2:48:55 AM PDT by rarestia (Repeal the 17th Amendment and ratify Article the First to give the power back to the people!)
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To: nickcarraway

It is well established by now that diabetes II can be effectively] countered by lifestyle changes as described here. The point is that for many people, a structured program is necessary to support making and maintaining the desired changes. As with so many insurance decisions, Medicare is short changing an incredibly cost effective treatment intervention, only to pay hundreds of times more money later on down the road,


18 posted on 07/25/2021 3:13:20 AM PDT by hinckley buzzard (resist the narrative. .)
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To: logi_cal869

I’m a super healthy 60 year old with little to no body fat but I suffer from type 2 (hereditary). I don’t eat flour, sugar or alcohol and still my A1C is high without daily insulin.


19 posted on 07/25/2021 5:23:36 AM PDT by databoss
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To: Viking2002

If only people were educated about diabetes they would know..
You don’t have diabetes because you are fat...
You are fat because you have diabetes...

I was 6’ tall, 200 pounds of lean muscle when I was diagnosed. My a1c was 14, and my kidneys were in the first stages of failure.
Got on meds, now my a1c is 5.8 and my kidney function is just about normal.
Doctor told me I was going to gain weight. I laughed at him.
I am now over 240 pounds, and am struggling just to maintain this weight.
I asked my doctor why? He said my body had to re-boot itself, and the result is weight gain.

Peoples ignorance about diabetes is staggering.


20 posted on 07/25/2021 6:06:09 AM PDT by joe fonebone (bush league chamber of commerce worshiping republiCAN'Ts are the enemy)
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