You Won’t Believe How Much Diabetes is Costing the U.S.

You Won’t Believe How Much Diabetes is Costing the U.S.

Client Sanon has her finger pricked for a blood sugar test in the Family Van in Boston
REUTERS/Brian Snyder
By Millie Dent

The budget-busting price of Sovaldi, a drug used to treat hepatitis C has generated wave after wave of media attention, but it’s far from the only drug creating cost problems for patients and insurers.

As Michelle Andrews of Kaiser Health News points out, diabetes affects 29 million Americans, or 10 times as many people as hepatitis C, and the costs of treating it have been rising quickly. And because it’s a chronic condition, people require lifetime care.  

Related: Diabetes Detection Up in Pro-Obamacare States

In 2011, the average annual health spending for individuals with diabetes was $14,093. Two years later, it had risen to $14,999, according to the Healthcare Cost Institute. In contrast, a person without diabetes spent about $10,000 less in medical costs in 2013. Pharmacy provider Express Scripts said earlier this year that 2014 marked the fourth year in a row that medication used to treat diabetes were the most expensive of any traditional drug class.

In all, diabetes costs totaled an estimated $245 billion in 2012, including both direct medical expenses and indirect costs from disability and lost work productivity.

While some of the most popular diabetes drugs aren’t particularly expensive, the new brand-name drugs that are continually being introduced offer more effective treatment and fewer side effects — but also come with a higher price tag. Less than half of the diabetes prescription treatments filled in 2014 were generic.

Nearly a century after its discovery in 1921, insulin is still a common form of treatment for the millions of people with type 1 diabetes, yet there is still no generic form available. Patent protection has been extended in some cases due to improvements in existing formulations. Once those patents expire, Andrews notes, biologically similar drugs could replace them and reduce the price by up to 40 percent.

Related: This Disease Hikes Health Care Costs By More than $10,000 a Year 

The financial ramifications of diabetes don’t just stem from the cost of drugs or medical treatment — it’s also been proven that people with diabetes have a high-school dropout rate that is six percentage points higher than those without the disease, according to a Health Affairs study. In addition, young adults with diabetes are four to six percentage points less likely to attend college than those without the disease.

Diabetes also contributes to lower employment and wages. On average, a person with diabetes earns $160,000 less over the course of their lives than people who don’t develop the disease. By age 30, a person with diabetes is 10 percent less likely to be employed.

So even if it’s not generating as many headlines as hepatitis C at any given point in time, the costs of diabetes can’t be ignored.

Top Reads From The Fiscal Times

Can Anyone Stop the $38 Billion Airline Fee Squeeze?

People are seen in the United Airlines terminal at Newark International Airport in New Jersey, July 22, 2014.  REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
EDUARDO MUNOZ
By Beth Braverman

U.S. airlines earned $2.6 billion in fees and frequent flier mile sales in 2014, an 18.7 percent increase from 2013,  according to an annual report by consultancies IdeaWorks and CarTrawler.

That represents the eighth consecutive year that carriers saw substantial revenue ancillary to ticket sales. Globally, ancillary revenue soared more than 20 percent to $38.1 billion.

“Ancillary revenue is an increasingly important indicator of commercial success, and a major contributor to the bottom line of airlines across the globe,” said Michael Cunningham, CarTrawler’s Chief Commercial Officer, in a statement.

Related: 6 Sneaky Fees that Are Making Airlines a Bundle

By passenger, additional revenue grew by 8.5 percent to $17.49. Low cost carriers increased ancillary revenue by 32.8 percent for the year, or $2.9 billion.

Ten airlines earned two-thirds of the ancillary revenue, led by United Airlines, American/U.S. Airways, and Delta. Delta brought in $350 million through its Comfort Plus program, which allows passengers to pay extra for more legroom and priority boarding.

Among passengers’ most hated fees are checked bag fees. Airlines typically charge $25 for the first bag, $35 for the second, and more than $100 for a third bag.

As frequent fliers turn to branded credit cards as a means of avoiding fees, airlines are still earning money. Last year, American’s Citibank-issued credit card, which gives consumers one free checked bag and priority boarding, yielded an additional $624 million for the carrier last year.

The additional fees are not improving the customer experience. More than 60 percent of consumers surveyed by the U.S. Travel Association in March said they were frustrated with air travel generally.

Memo to Michelle Obama: Americans Still Aren’t Eating Their Greens

Jack Puccio/iStockphoto
By Millie Dent

Maybe First Lady Michelle Obama should refocus her healthy eating campaign more on adults than children. Fewer than 20 percent of American adults are eating enough fruits and vegetables, newly released data from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey.

The United States Department of Agriculture’s nutrition guidelines recommend that Americans have two to three cups of vegetables every day, along with 1.5 to two cups of fruit. Based on those criteria, only 13 percent of adults in the survey ate enough fruit and a meager 9 percent of individuals ate enough vegetables. These numbers are worse than in years past. Between 2007 and 2010, 76 percent of Americans didn’t consume the recommended amount of fruit and 87 percent failed to eat enough vegetables.  

Related Link: The 11 Worst Fast Food Restaurants in America

What’s more, while consumption of fruits and vegetables varies substantially from place to place, the residents of each and every state in the union fell short of the USDA recommendations. In Tennessee, 7.5 percent of residents consume enough fruit, while in Mississippi, a mere 5.5 percent of individuals eat enough vegetables. California ranked highest for eating both fruits and vegetables, but even there, just about 18 percent eat enough fruit and 13 percent eat enough veggies.

“Substantial new efforts are needed to build consumer demand for fruits and vegetables through competitive pricing, placement, and promotion in child care, schools, grocery stores, communities, and worksites,” the CDC report says.

The report comes out after a study published in last month’s JAMA Internal Medicine found that fewer than one-third of Americans are currently at a healthy weight. The majority of individuals are either overweight or obese. 

Diane von Furstenberg Will Sell a Purse that Charges Your Phone

Designer Diane von Furstenberg speaks to the media backstage before her Fall 2015 collection "Seduction" show at the Singapore Fashion Week
© Edgar Su / Reuters
By Julia Boorstin

Fashion mogul Diane von Furstenberg said she will launch a high-tech purse that automatically—and cordlessly—charges smartphones.

The purse, which does not yet have a price tag, will go on sale in limited edition this holiday season, before rolling out broadly next year. The designer is working with an undisclosed technology partner on the handbag.

"My role in fashion is really solution driven," von Furstenberg said. "I'm always on the go, so [it's important] you have everything at the right time."

The idea of creating a handbag that charges a smartphone isn't entirely new. Kate Spade recently announced that it will launch a similar product line this fall.

Related: 16 Must-Have Products to Make Your Home Smarter Right Now

Von Furstenberg, a regular in Sun Valley, Idaho, took the stage at this year's Allen & Co. conference for a panel on the future of fashion, along with Spanx founder Sara Blakely.

She's there to meet with technology companies as she works to bring fashion into the future.

"Technology is the biggest revolution," von Furstenberg said. "It's such a big part of our lives, we do everything with technology, so it's not even separate anymore. It just is."

Related: 10 Biggest Tech Flops of the Century

Though she doesn't wear an Apple Watch, the designer said she's also interested in wearable technology. At her New York Fashion Week show in September 2012, she sent models down the runway wearing Google Glass.

But von Furstenberg cautions the term "wearable tech" will soon become obsolete.

"Wearable technology won't even be a word anymore, because everything you do will have technology," she said.

Von Furstenberg added that technology isn't just important for the future of fashion products—it's already crucial to their marketing.

"If you're interested in millennials, everyone is on social media and everyone is a brand," she said. "It's very interesting to brands to see how they can work with a generation, who each of them is [their own] brand." 

This article originally appeared on CNBC.
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Corporate Sponsors Pass on Women's World Cup Ticker-Tape Parade

Soccer: Women's World Cup-Semifinal-United States at Germany
© USA Today Sports / Reuters
By Beth Braverman

While the country celebrates the U.S. Women’s Soccer team’s World Cup Championship with a New York City ticker tape parade, corporations have been reluctant to pony up cash to cover the $2 million celebration.

Major League Soccer, Nike, fod company Mondelez and video game giant Electronic Arts have contributed a total $450,000 toward the parade, leaving New York City to cover the difference, the New York Post reports. That includes the cost of cleanup and security.

By contrast, the 2012 parade that celebrated the New York Giants winning the Super Bowl had more than a dozen corporate sponsors.

Related: For World Cup Hero Carli Lloyd, 16 Minutes Can Mean Millions

City officials told the Post that the dearth of sponsors reflected the short period of time in which the city pulled together plans for the parade. The team is the first women’s squad to receive a New York City ticker tape parade, although the city has honored individual women, such as Olympic athletes and Amelia Earhart.

More than 12,000 people entered a lottery for tickets to the parade, which will feature the team atop patriotic floats moving down the Canyon of Heroes in lower Manhattan as spectators throw confetti from surrounding buildings.

While companies may not have shown much interest in the parade, they are clearly interested in star Carli Lloyd. Her agent has repeatedly received more than 200 inquiries from marketers who want to work with the athlete.

That’s good news for Lloyd, who like all other National Women’s Soccer League players, is subject to a $37,800 salary cap, about one 10th of what the average male Major League Soccer player makes in a year.

Corporate Sponsors Didn't Kick in Much for Women's World Cup Parade

Soccer: Women's World Cup-Final-Japan at United States
Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports / Reuters
By Beth Braverman

While the country celebrates the U.S. Women’s Soccer team’s World Cup Championship with a New York City ticker tape parade, corporations have been reluctant to pony up cash to cover the $2 million celebration.

Major League Soccer, Nike, fod company Mondelez and video game giant Electronic Arts have contributed a total $450,000 toward the parade, leaving New York City to cover the difference, the New York Post reports. That includes the cost of cleanup and security.

By contrast, the 2012 parade that celebrated the New York Giants winning the Super Bowl had more than a dozen corporate sponsors.

Related: For World Cup Hero Carli Lloyd, 16 Minutes Can Mean Millions

City officials told the Post that the dearth of sponsors reflected the short period of time in which the city pulled together plans for the parade. The team is the first women’s squad to receive a New York City ticker tape parade, although the city has honored individual women, such as Olympic athletes and Amelia Earhart.

More than 12,000 people entered a lottery for tickets to the parade, which will feature the team atop patriotic floats moving down the Canyon of Heroes in lower Manhattan as spectators throw confetti from surrounding buildings.

While companies may not have shown much interest in the parade, they are clearly interested in star Carli Lloyd. Her agent has repeatedly received more than 200 inquiries from marketers who want to work with the athlete.

That’s good news for Lloyd, who like all other National Women’s Soccer League players, is subject to a $37,800 salary cap, about one 10th of what the average male Major League Soccer player makes in a year.