In My Community

Diabetes is a disease with a staggering human and economic toll. Nearly 24 million Americans have diabetes including 5.7 million who are currently undiagnosed. Your workplace will be increasingly affected by diabetes and other chronic diseases. Strategies for preventing and managing diabetes can also reduce the risk for, or help manage, other chronic conditions including heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, high cholesterol.

Therefore, it is in a company's best interest to join the ADA in our mission to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. In doing so, your company can achieve higher productivity and reduce health care costs.

Read more diabetes statistics.

What Diabetes Costs Your Workplace

New cost of diabetes data recently released demonstrates that diabetes continues to be a staggering economic cost for companies and the health care system. One in every five health care dollars is spent caring for someone with diabetes, while one in ten health care dollars is attributed to diabetes. In 2007 the total annual economic cost of diabetes in medical expenditures and lost productivity was estimated to be $174 billion, an increase of 32 percent since 2002. The 2007 per capita annual costs of health care for people with diabetes is $11,744 a year, of which $6,649 (57%) is attributed to diabetes.

Medical Expenditures Attributed to Diabetes

• $116 Billion including $27 billion for care to directly treat diabetes, $58 billion to treat diabetes-related complications and $31 billion in excess general medical costs.
• People with diagnosed diabetes, on average, have medical expenditures that are approximately 2.3 times higher than those without diabetes.

Indirect Costs of Diabetes in 2007

• Estimated to total $58 billion.
• Diabetes accounts for 15 million work days absent, 120 million work days with reduced performance, 6 million reduced productivity days for those not in the workplace, and an additional 107 million work days lost due to unemployment disability attributed to diabetes.