MaintainINSURANCE COVERAGE for diabetes care, education, supplies, & medication by opposing all efforts to repeal or diminish coverage for Kentuckians with diabetes.
Support DIABETES PREVENTION efforts to stop the diabetes epidemic by assisting Kentuckians who areoverweight, who engage in limited physical activity, or who have pre-diabetes.
HELP KENTUCKY KIDSby supportingschool wellness policies that include healthy meals / snacks, daily physical activity, and student BMI measurements. Also, ensure the medical SAFETY OF CHILDREN with diabetes in schools.
PREVENTABLE: Approximately 233,000 Kentuckians have pre-diabetes and will develop full blown diabetes without intervention! At this stage, diabetes is preventable in 75% of people.
COSTLY: Diabetes may cost over $2 billion per year in Kentucky (hospitalizations due to uncontrolled blood sugar, cardiovascular complications, end-stage kidney failure and dialysis, loss of ability to work due to blindness and/or amputations, etc.).
CONTROLLABLE: Much can be done to prevent diabetes in Kentucky and to reduce the sickness and death caused by the disease.
SERIOUS: In 2009, 19% of all hospitalizations (114,977) were related to diabetes (stroke, ischemic heart disease, congestive heart failure and lower extremity amputations).
COMMON: Approximately 10% (370,000) of Kentucky adults have diabetes compared to 8.7% nationwide. Over half (68) of Kentucky’s 120 counties are part of a national “diabetes belt” with some counties having a rate of diabetes as high as 12.6%.
THANK YOU TO OUR LEGISLATORS for these accomplishments related to diabetes from the last several years:
Requiring state regulated insurance plans to cover diabetes education and diabetes supplies.
Adding diabetes to the Kentucky death certificate.
Improving school nutrition in lunch programs and vending machines.
Helping ensure the medical safety of children with diabetes in Kentucky by allowing non-medical school personnel to administer glucagon.
Continuing funding to the Kentucky Diabetes Prevention and Control Program.
Funding the Diabetes Centers of Excellence.
Establishing and funding the Kentucky Diabetes Research Board.
Passing the Diabetes Educator’s Licensure Law in Kentucky.
Results of the 2011 Legislative Session and the 2011 Diabetes Day at the Capitol:
The bills introduced in 2011 which the KDN Board of Directors voted to support are listed below. Unfortunately, none of these bills were passed in the 2011 session of the legislature. Two other bills, Senate Bill 71 requiring licensure of Diabetes Educators, and Senate Bill 63 requiring Medicaid, Public Health, and the State Employee Health Plan to produce a “Blueprint for Action” on diabetes in Kentucky were passed by the legislature and signed into law by the Governor. A more complete summary of the bills that were passed and the 2011 Diabetes Day at the Capitol can be found here. The 2011 bills supported by KDN included:
KDN Diabetes