The Per Person Yearly Cost of Having Type 2 Diabetes

The most recent data available from 2011 indicates that the cost per person per year of having Type 2 Diabetes in Canada ranges from $1611 (Quebec) to $3427 (New Brunswick) based on an average income of $43,000 per year. Necessary medications, devices and supplies are expensive – costing more than 3% of income. While those with extended health benefits now may not consider this cost now, a change in employment circumstances can affect this overnight.

As Type 2 Diabetes progresses, more medications are often added and the number of times blood sugar needs to be taken each day often increases, as well.  Job loss or retirement suddenly results in Canadians being faced with bearing the burden of their disease, along with the chronic, progressive nature of poorly managed blood sugars.

A per-province breakdown using the 2011 figures from the Canadian Diabetes Association appears below;

It doesn’t have to be so.

Long term studies that have been published in the last couple of years (reviewed in previous articles on this site) which demonstrate that a well-designed low carbohydrate or ketogenic diet can and does enable a significant improvement in Type 2 Diabetes symptoms.

After as little as 10 weeks, glycosylated Hemoglobin (HbA1C) has been reported to drop a full percentage point; from 7.6% to 6.6%. After a year, the average HbA1C was 6.3%, which is below the diagnostic criteria for Type 2 Diabetes.  That is, in just a year of following a well-designed low carbohydrate diet, it has been demonstrated that people can get their average blood glucose in the non-Diabetic range.

Medication use drops substantially when people can control their blood sugar by limiting the amount and types of carbohydrates they eat.  At the start of the study mentioned above, published in Feb of 2018, 87% of people were taking at least one medication for Diabetes and at just 10 weeks, almost 57% had one or more Diabetes medications reduced or eliminated. After one year, Type 2 Diabetes medication prescriptions other than Metformin declined from 57% to below 30%. Insulin injections were reduced or eliminated in 94% of users, and sulfonylurea medication was entirely eliminated.

For each one of these individuals, a simple change to a low carbohydrate diet resulted not only in significantly improved health and a reduction in Diabetes symptoms, but in significantly reduced cost, as well.

People are sometimes hesitant to invest in the cost of seeing a Registered Dietitian who can help them adopt a low carbohydrate lifestyle, even though the yearly costs of Diabetes supplies are far greater.

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To your good health!

Joy

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References

Canadian Diabetes Association, The Burden of Out of Pocket Costs for Canadians with Diabetes, 2011,  http://www.diabetes.ca/CDA/media/documents/publications-and-newsletters/advocacy-reports/burden-of-out-of-pocket-costs-for-canadians-with-diabetes.pdf

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