Ten years from now, more than half of the U.S. population could have diabetes or prediabetes, according to a newly released analysis by UnitedHealth Group's Center for Reform & Modernization.
The predictions are based on the current trends of increasing diabetes diagnoses in the U.S., where some 27 million people suffer from the disease. It is one of the fastest growing medical conditions in the nation and coincides with the ongoing obesity epidemic.
And it's costing a lot of money too. If the incidence of diabetes and prediabetes, a condition in which an individual has high blood sugar and is at high risk for diabetes, continues to grow at current rates, it will cost over $3 trillion in health-care-related expenses or as much as 10 percent of total health-care spending in the U.S. Last year, UnitedHealth Group estimates, diabetes-related healthcare costs topped almost $2 billion.
In 2009, the annual health-care costs for a person suffering from diabetes averaged $11,700; whereas health-care costs for individuals not suffering from diabetes averaged $4,400. If someone with diabetes suffers complications of the disease, which can range from heart disease to kidney damage, the annual individual cost goes up to over $20,000.
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The predictions are based on the current trends of increasing diabetes diagnoses in the U.S., where some 27 million people suffer from the disease. It is one of the fastest growing medical conditions in the nation and coincides with the ongoing obesity epidemic.
And it's costing a lot of money too. If the incidence of diabetes and prediabetes, a condition in which an individual has high blood sugar and is at high risk for diabetes, continues to grow at current rates, it will cost over $3 trillion in health-care-related expenses or as much as 10 percent of total health-care spending in the U.S. Last year, UnitedHealth Group estimates, diabetes-related healthcare costs topped almost $2 billion.
In 2009, the annual health-care costs for a person suffering from diabetes averaged $11,700; whereas health-care costs for individuals not suffering from diabetes averaged $4,400. If someone with diabetes suffers complications of the disease, which can range from heart disease to kidney damage, the annual individual cost goes up to over $20,000.
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