The House of Representatives is voting on this year's budget in the next few days and right now the picture is alarming for people with diabetes.
The cuts proposed in the most recent budget for 2011 will jeopardize research underway and undermine proven prevention programs. At a time when nearly 26 million Americans have diabetes and another 79 million have prediabetes, these cuts are simply unacceptable.
Congress needs to hear from you about the impact proposed cuts in public health funding, including diabetes research and prevention funding, would have on individuals living with, or at risk for, diabetes.
Urge your representatives to oppose drastic cuts to diabetes funding for 2011!
Dear [Decision Maker],
As your constituent, I stand with the American Diabetes Association in urging you to reject proposals to decrease FY 2011 funding for public health programs in the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011 (H.R.1) including cuts to funding through the National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at the National Institutes of Health and the Division of Diabetes Translation (DDT) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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If the proposed $1.6 billion in cuts to NIH and $1.75 billion in cuts to CDC are enacted:
- Research studies funded through the NIDDK, which are essential to move us closer to a cure and better treatments for diabetes, will be jeopardized.
- DDT's ability to help people avoid diabetes and its devastating complications would severely be reduced. This would lead to more hospitalizations and more emergency room visits, which will add to the already high cost of diabetes.
- The DDT's effort to prevent diabetes through the proven community-based National Diabetes Prevention Program will not move forward. Studies have shown this program could save $190 billion over ten years.
Already, 26 million Americans have diabetes and 79 million have prediabetes. If current trends continue, 1 in 3 American adults will have diabetes by 2050.
The total cost of diabetes and its complications, including undiagnosed diabetes, prediabetes and gestational diabetes, was an estimated $218 billion in 2007. Those costs will only continue to grow if we don't invest in stopping the spread of diabetes and finding a cure.
I hope you will support efforts to stop diabetes by rejecting these dangerous cuts.
