Medicare Savings-Diabetes Prevention

Third Way asked Avalere Health to estimate the cost or savings on the Federal budget of a diabetes prevention program for Medicare beneficiaries. This proposal would create a new Medicare benefit covering eligible diabetes prevention programs for Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with prediabetes. These diabetes prevention programs would meet the standards under the National Diabetes Prevention Program established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and would offer group-based lifestyle intervention sessions for eligible Medicare beneficiaries. Physicians, health plans and providers would be encouraged to better identify individuals with prediabetes by publicly reporting of screening rates for prediabetes and requiring medical homes to conduct routine prediabetes screenings. This public reporting would also include a measure of the rate at which individuals who have prediabetes avoid developing diabetes.

We estimate this proposal would decrease federal spending by $5.6 billion over the 2014-2025 federal budget window. This amount reflects a combination of an estimated $10.5 billion in new spending on the diabetes prevention program and screenings initiatives offset by an estimated $16.1 billion in savings from fewer Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with diabetes over the next 10 years.

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