Private MD News

Healthcare reform laws may lead to better diabetes care

Category: General Health

Diabetes is recognized as one of the leading killers of Americans, but many say that there is still not enough being done to help people with the disease.

Businessweek Magazine recently reported that, even though the disease is currently listed as the number five leading cause of death in the U.S., many coroners under-report the number of people who die from the disease.

But a clause in the recently passed healthcare reform law will lead to more reporting of the disease, which could spur the government to spend more on prevention and treatment programs.

Robert Anderson, chief of mortality statistics at the CDC, told the news source that there isn't enough understanding among doctors about the disease, but that the new guidelines will help them learn how to deal with the problem.

"They certainly underestimate the impact [of the disease]," he said.

The CDC says that 233,619 people died of diabetes in 2006.