What is The Diabetes Supplies Act?

There are already over 29 million people in the United States suffering from some form of diabetes, and that number continues to grow each day. And as more and more people are diagnosed with this condition, the cost of daily diabetes management, from test strips to insulin, continues going up.

Thankfully, two U.S. senators have recognized the plight of diabetics across the country, and they've taken action to keep these people healthy.

The Diabetes Supplies Act

Dan Coats a Republican senator from Indiana, and Mark Warner, a Democratic senator from Virginia, introduced the Diabetes Supplies Act on November 16. Their bill ensures that Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes always have access to their preferred brand of test strips.

The bill comes on the heels of Medicare’s national mail-order program for diabetes testing supplies. Coats and Warner believe that with this program in place, many popular brands of test strips will be unavailable to Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes.

“Diabetes patients deserve the right to choose what products will best help them manage this disease,” Coats said of the bill in a statement.

Conditions For Suppliers

The Diabetes Supplies Act puts pressure on Medicare to provide people with diabetes with their preferred supplies, but it also puts pressure on the test strip suppliers. The bill requires that suppliers seeking to supply diabetes test strips demonstrate an ability to obtain the products they included in their bids. Additionally, the bills asks the Department of Health and Human Services to terminate suppliers who fail to provide the products they include in their bids.

Senators Coats and Warner have the support of the American Association of Diabetes Educators, the American Association of Clinical Endrocrinologists and the Diabetes Access to Care Coalition for their bill.