The cost of diabetes can be calculated many ways. From the CDC website:

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/aag/aag_ddt.htm

“The average yearly health care cost for a person with diabetes was $13,243 in 2002, compared with $2,560 for a person without diabetes. … Each year, 12,000–24,000 people in this country become blind because of diabetic eye disease. … About 42,813 people with diabetes develop kidney failure each year, and over 100,000 are treated for this condition. … About 82,000 people have diabetes-related leg, foot, or toe amputations each year. ”


Some simple arithmetic; $13,243 – $2,560 = $10,683 excess cost from diabetes X 16,000,000 diabetics = $170,928,000,000. Or 171 BILLION dollars.

This does not factor any other human costs, such as spending the rest of your life in a wheel chair, or blind, or both.

That the solution to this tragic situation is suppressed for the economic benefit of a few is criminal.