Diabetes will cost Washington state more than $13 billion in 2030

More than 23.5 million Americans are now estimated to have diagnosed or undiagnosed diabetes according to the Centers for Disease Control. That’s 7.8% of the population. Diabetes can’t be cured but people can live a healthy life and manage the disease with better nutrition, regular exercise and medication.

The state of Washington and Whatcom County are not immune.

Diabetes continues to be a serious, common and costly condition in Washington. As the state’s population grows and ages, so do the numbers of people with diabetes, according to the Washington State Department of Health. According to current estimates, about 622,600 adults aged 20 years and older have diabetes, with a quarter unaware of their diabetic condition.

Diabetes remains one of the most common serious medical conditions facing youth, with an estimated 4,500 youth younger than 20 years of age with diagnosed diabetes. Additionally, an estimated two million adults in Washington have prediabetes. Fifteen to 30% of people with prediabetes are expected to develop Type 2 diabetes within five years, according to the health department.

“Diabetes is (as much) a public health concern and a personal concern for people with diabetes and their families in Whatcom County as it is throughout the country,” according to Dr. Jim Hopper, chief medical officer for the Family Care Network.

The specific concerns regarding diabetes are that having diabetes increases one’s risk of other health care issues including cardiovascular disease like heart attacks, decreasing kidney and eye functions and peripheral neuropathy, Hopper said. Additionally, people with diabetes have higher overall health care costs than average over time.

This was underscored by the Washington State Health Department. Diabetes costs an estimated $8 billion each year in Washington state. This includes $6 billion in direct medical expenses for diagnosed diabetes and $2 billion (in 2015 dollars) spent on indirect costs from lost productivity due to diabetes. The individual’s medical cost of having diabetes is approximately $14,000 per year.

This is twice the cost of medical care for people without diabetes. The average lifetime cost of caring for a person with Type 2 diabetes is approximately $85,200 and can range from $55,000 to $130,000. The cost of a new case of type 2 diabetes imposed on the healthcare system is particularly high in people diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at younger ages, mostly due to the longer time diabetes is managed. Women have greater lifetime medical costs than men primarily because even though women have fewer complications, on average, they live longer than men.

Better control of diabetes can reduce cost, improve quality of life and decrease deaths. A 1-percentage point increase in A1c (a laboratory test that estimates average blood glucose over 2-3 months) results in a 4.4% increase (on average) in diabetes-related medical costs, which corresponds to an annual cost increase of $250 per person, according to the state health department. Preventing Type 2 diabetes can also decrease costs. The Washington State Institute of Public Policy found that lifestyle change programs to prevent Type 2 diabetes have benefits that consistently outweigh costs.

The cost of diabetes in Washington state is projected to increase from almost $8 billion in 2015 to more than $13 billion in 2030.

While Type 1 diabetes develops often in children and carries greater lifetime health risks; Type2 diabetes affects adults more commonly and is much more prevalent than Type 1, Hopper said.

So, what’s contributing to the prevalence of diabetes?

“It is felt that the increasing rates of Type 2 diabetes are related to an increasingly inactive lifestyle of the general American populace over the past several decades, along with increasing ingestion of high carbohydrate, highly processed foods by the same population,” Hopper said.

Diabetes is best prevented by focusing the diet on a whole-food, vegetable-based diet that limits refined carbohydrates like packaged snacks and sweetened beverages while pursuing regular physical activity, Hopper said. Physical activity can be as simple as taking a daily walk.

“People with early diabetes Type 2 diabetes can best address it by learning about their nutrition choices and how to make wise choices; by embarking on an appropriate program of increasing physical activity and by working with their primary care provider in both management of blood sugar levels and prevention/early detection of diabetes complications,” Hopper said.

To help reduce the cost of expensive diabetes medications, Hopper said there are discounted prescription programs available online either through the insurers or through discount groups like Good RX.

Correspondent Cindy Uken is an award-winning veteran journalist.