ADA: Bush’s FY 2009 budget proposal ‘undermines funds for research, prevention'
According to the American Diabetes Association, President Bush’s proposed fiscal year 2009 budget, announced on Feb. 4, would under-fund diabetes research and prevention at the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Under the Administration’s budget proposal, funding for the National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases would be funded at $2.6 million more than the previous fiscal year, a .15% increase. The ADA believes this increase does not match the toll diabetes is taking on the United States. “As demonstrated by [the Feb. 4] budget proposal, once again the Bush Administration has missed the gravity of diabetes,” said John B. Buse, MD, PhD, president, Medicine & Science, American Diabetes Association “It is the greatest public health epidemic of the 21st century. For five years, the Bush Administration and Congress have neglected to provide ample federal resources to address the millions who are affected, while the costs of diabetes have increased by more than 30%.”Funding for the Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion will lose $29 million, and the funding for CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation (DDT) would be reduced to $62.45 million. DDT works in federal, state and local partnerships to conduct surveillance, prevention and treatment programs as well as coordinates the state-based Diabetes Prevention and Control Programs that help those with diabetes better control and manage the disease. ADA is urging Congress to increase NIDDK funding by $112.5 million (6.6%), and CDC diabetes prevention at DDT by $20.8 million, which equates to $1 for every American with diabetes.According to the Wall Street Journal, the health care funding cuts would slow the Medicare’s projected annual growth rate from 7% to 5%. Bush said cuts are needed to slow "the unsustainable growth in entitlement spending.""If we do not address this challenge, we will leave our children three bad options: huge tax increases, huge deficits, or huge cuts in benefits," said Bush.According to the ADA, one in 10 health care dollars is attributed to diabetes, and one in three Medicare dollars is spent on diabetes and its related complications. “At an estimated $174 billion a year, the costs of diabetes are taking a devastating toll on our economy and compromising the lives of millions of Americans,” said Buse. “It is ironic that such a staggering figure has been responded to with such indifference. We cannot afford not to invest in diabetes research, treatment, and prevention—the consequences for our health care system and our society will be too severe.”
