Holiday dinner is ready. Time to eat, right?
For most people, the feast begins when the food is served. But for those living with diabetes, enjoying a meal starts with checking blood sugar, taking medication and thinking about how each bite affects their condition. These extra steps—necessary before every meal—show the daily reality of managing diabetes. But this chronic condition brings challenges that go beyond physical health.
The Burden of Diabetes
November is Diabetes Awareness Month—a time to recognize the nearly 40 million Americans living with the disease. Whether Type 1, Type 2 or gestational, diabetes can damage vital organs over time, especially when unmanaged for prolonged periods. While many understand the physical risks, the emotional and financial toll often goes unseen.
Managing diabetes means completing daily tasks like checking blood sugar, administering insulin or reading a nutrition label. These demands can lead to mental health challenges, including “diabetes distress,” a unique response to the stress of living with the disease that involves overlapping emotional symptoms with several mental health conditions as well as “diabetes burnout,” the fatigue caused by constant care. One in four people with diabetes experience distress severe enough to affect disease management, increasing risks for complications like kidney disease and vision loss.
Stigma adds another layer. Some hide their condition, skip insulin doses or make unhealthy choices to avoid drawing attention—all of which can worsen health outcomes.
The Financial Impact
Diabetes is expensive. People with diabetes spend 2.6 times more on average than those without the condition. Costs include frequent doctor visits, emergency care and prescription drugs, plus indirect expenses like lost workdays and specialized diets.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that $1 out of every $4 in U.S. health care costs is spent on caring for people with diabetes, totaling $413 billion annually. Roughly 25% of this comes from indirect costs associated with inability to work. People over age 65 account for 61% of diabetes-related expenditures, driven largely by prescription drug costs. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that 10 commonly prescribed diabetes medications accounted for $35.8 billion in spending in 2023, up 364% from 2019.
Addressing High Drug Costs
Prescription drug prices are a major barrier for people with diabetes. Policymakers have started to act, but further reforms are needed. Nearly 30 states and Medicare have implemented copay caps on insulin, while health plans like CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (CareFirst), have implemented $0 copays for preferred insulin products in its fully-insured plans.
Future steps should include expanding the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program to include additional drugs and extending negotiations to other markets. The drug patent system should also be reformed by targeting practices that delay generic and biosimilar competition. These changes would improve affordability and access for millions.
CareFirst’s Commitment to Members with Diabetes
CareFirst is dedicated to supporting members at every stage of their diabetes journey and has invested in building out a network of resources and support programs focused on helping members manage, navigate, understand and improve their diabetes, including:
- Diabetes Virtual Care Program, in partnership with Onduo, offers members with type 2 diabetes personalized support, easy-to-use tools and access to certified diabetes educators to ask questions, receive recommendations to manage symptoms and help set up a plan to meet health goals.
- CareFirst WellBeing℠, our no-cost digital platform, gives access to nutrition and fitness programming like Noom, a weight management app to develop and maintain healthy eating and physical activity habits, and resources to help them quit smoking.
- Care Management Programs provide a comprehensive approach to addressing long-term health conditions like diabetes, reducing the frustration of fragmented care through better coordination of medical services.
- Flexible telehealth benefits help support mental health and quickly addresses minor health issues, alleviating some of the burden brought on by in-person appointments, which diabetics must already regularly attend.
Addressing affordability head on through policy change aimed at the root cause will have positive impacts that ripple through a diabetic’s world; when the price of living with diabetes becomes more affordable, life becomes a little less stressful, managing this disease becomes a little easier—and holiday feasts become more enjoyable for everyone.