The
Diabetes Caucus was formed in 1996 and has grown to be
the largest caucus in Congress with more than 250 members
in the 110th Congress. The mission of the Congressional Diabetes Caucus is to
educate members of Congress and their staffs about about diabetes and to support legislative activities that would improve diabetes research, education and treatment. Our achievements are significant. We were
successful in obtaining $1.5 billion for the Special Diabetes
Program, a program that funds juvenile diabetes research
and Native American treatment and prevention programs through
the Indian Health Service.
We played a key role in helping
to enact legislation to provide Medicare coverage for
blood testing strips, glucose monitors and diabetes self-management
education. We successfully urged the Health Care Financing
Administration to provide coverage for insulin infusion
pumps. The Postal Service unveiled a diabetes awareness
stamp - a measure we actively supported.
While we are still striving to
reach the funding recommendations put forth by the Diabetes
Research Working Group, increases in research dollars at the CDC and NIH
have begun to show results. Islet transplantation trials
show promise for curing type 1 (juvenile) diabetes in
the near future. Our efforts will continue on type 2 (adult
onset) diabetes which is now beginning to strike individuals
in their youth. |