“The cost from reduced productivity and treatment of diabetes costs the United States more than we spend fighting in Iraq,” Space said. “Increasing the treatment and prevention of this disease not only makes good fiscal sense, but it also serves to increase the quality of life.”

“I know firsthand the impact that diabetes has on the lives of every day Americans. I firmly believe we can substantially reduce the impact this disease has on our country – if not eliminate it entirely – if we simply dedicate the resources and effort necessary,” Space continued.

The Catalyst to Better Diabetes Care Act addresses five major diabetes issues:

Create a cross-agency, collaborative patient and provider outreach program to increase utilization of the Medicare diabetes screening benefit established in 2003. This provision will save money and lives by reducing the enormous number of Medicare beneficiaries with undiagnosed diabetes.

Track our progress toward beating diabetes by the creation of a National Diabetes Report Card, with corollary state information, which consists of aggregate health outcomes relative to the leading clinical measures of diabetes, as well as aggregate data on the complications of diabetes.

Promote innovative private sector diabetes and other chronic disease wellness programs through a Department of Commerce-led best practices advisory group.

Work toward a solution on the problem identified by the CDC on the underreporting of diabetes on death certificates.

Initiate a much-needed discussion through an Institute of Medicine report on the impact of diabetes on the practice of medicine in the United States and our current level of diabetes medical education.

Diabetes is an epidemic in America. Over 20 million Americans have the disease, costing our country over $178 billion a year. If nothing is done to change our current path, by 2025 over 1.8 million Ohioans will have diabetes – resulting in over 22,000 deaths annually at a cost of nearly $13 billion, almost double what it is today. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in three children born today will develop diabetes – one in two minority children.

According to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 32% of the Medicare budget is spent on the 18% of beneficiaries with diabetes. Every month, 200,000 seniors go on Medicare. Of those, 40,000 have diabetes, and 13,000-20,000 don’t even know it – yet they too often go undiagnosed and don’t receive the preventive care they need.

Congressman Space represents Ohio's 18th Congressional District and serves on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Health Subcommittee. He is working to restore integrity to the office, create the conditions to bring new industry and jobs to Ohio, and support renewable energy.