HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — Medicare is expanding services and recognizing the National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP) as a covered benefit for Medicare patients.
More than a third of Michigan adults are at risk for Type 2 diabetes. Modest lifestyle changes and ongoing education can go a long way toward preventing diabetes, improving overall health and wellness.
Diabetes affects more than 25 percent of Americans, 65 or older, according to the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, if current trends continue, this percentage is projected to double for all U.S. adults ages 18-79 by 2050.
Diabetes a growing disease and expensive. In 2016, Medicare spent an estimated $42 billion more on recipients with diabetes than on those who did not have the disease.
The majority of people with diabetes have Type 2, which is associated with obesity, older age, family history of the disease, previous history of gestational diabetes, physical inactivity, and ethnicity.
In type 2 diabetes, the pancreas usually makes enough insulin, but the body does not use it correctly.
The Center for Disease Control & Prevention-Recognized NDPP program is specifically designed for those at risk for, or already diagnosed with, prediabetes. Medicare members must have already been diagnosed with prediabetes to enroll.
The NDPP touches on every aspect of life that affects the risk for type 2 diabetes and provides not only the base knowledge necessary to understand that risk, but the practical, hands-on tools to change those risk factors.
A free information session is scheduled at 6-7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 22, from 6 -7 pm at the Center for Good Health, 175 S Waverly Rd. in Holland.
Learn more at hollandhospital.org or call (616) 394-3344.
