The role of genetics in diabetes type 1 - Research Paper Example

These statistics indicate that the problem of diabetes is intensifying. At present, state law provides minimum coverage requirements for state-regulated health insurance policies that include treatment for diabetes. Federal law, however, does not offer an assured support for diabetes research and treatment (“Providing Diabetes”). Because of the expensive cost of treating diabetes type 1, state and federal programs must fund more medical research for diabetes treatment, in order to help children who are generally afflicted by this disease and to ensure that the high costs of treating diabetes type 1 will be lessened in the long run.

Diabetes type 1 is more expensive to treat than diabetes type 2. Diabetes is “characterized by a condition where the body does not produce or properly use insulin” (“Providing Diabetes”). People need insulin to covert sugar, starches, and other foods into energy (“Providing Diabetes”). As a whole, the cost of treating diabetes reached $174 billion, including medical costs and reduced productivity (“Providing Diabetes”). Around $27 billion went to the treatment of diabetes, while $58 billion went to treat diabetes-related chronic complications (“Providing Diabetes”).

$31 billion paid excess medical costs (“Providing Diabetes”). The National Changing Diabetes Program commissioned a study, which learned that the existing estimate should include the costs for undiagnosed diabetes, pre-diabetes and gestational diabetes, which will further increase the costs to $218 billion in 2007 (“Providing Diabetes”). These significant costs should be broken down further because treating diabetes type 1 is more expensive than diabetes type 2. Children and young people with diabetes type 1 have very low insulin secretion and so they become dependent on insulin shots (Loghmani 167).

In “Bridling at Insulin’s Cost, States Push for Generics,” Saul interviewed people with diabetes and their