$42 BILLION increase over 4 years

WOW...WOW...WOW again. This actually may deserve one more WOW. Last week, the American Diabetes Association released a report which found that Diabetes now costs the U.S. a whopping $174 billon per year (in terms of direct care and lost productivity)As USA Today astutley pointed out, that is about as much as the global war on terrorism and the conflict in Afghanistan COMBINED cost the U.S. thus far and well over the cost of the damage of Hurricane Katrina. This is an increase since 2003 $42 Billion per year...infact, Diabetes now costs the U.S. almost as much as cancer does! The number of people diagnosed with Diabetes has increased by close to 1/3 since 2002, up from 12.1 million to 17.5 million. However, the 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 24 million people in the U.S. actually have Diabetes.