Today is the presidential primary day for many states in the US. And my good friend Manny has issued a challenge to the presidential candidates. Are they prepared to make funding for research and treatment of diabetes a National Priority.
This may not seem too important if you don't have diabetes. But remember that a recent study(PDF) showed that in 2007 the US spent over $174 billion dealing with diabets.
How much is that? More than was spent in Iraq supporting the military and dealing with situation there. Or about $580 for every person in the US, that's $2,320 for a family of four. For one year's treatment.
If you'd like to make your opinion heard on this, please complete the Diatribe survey about diabetes and its importance.
Oh, and do please vote in the primaries. It's important to make your opinion count.
The New York Times has a really useful tool that lets you watch and read the recent Republican presidential debate. This was brought to my attention thanks to a recent blog post by Jon Udell.
There are two tabs, the Video Transcript which comes up by default, and the Transcript Analyzer.
In the first tab you can watch the debate and see a scrolling text transcript at the same time. Or you can scroll down through the text and click on a section to get taken to that part of the debate. That alone is pretty cool.
But the Transcript Analyzer is even more useful. You can see the number of words spoken by each candidate, the moderator, and by the You Tube videos. And if you click on a name in the list on the left, you'll see where in the overall debate they actually spoke. Those sections are highlighted in dark blue. By moving your mouse over any section, you'll see the text.
You can also enter a word in the Search box at the top of the page. And if the word appears in the text you'll a little black mark showing its location and a word count for each of the speakers. I tried the word health and found that it was mentioned a grand total of five times in the entire debate. That's pretty shocking to me.
The NYT also has an election guide section where you can see a lot of information about the various candidates and a summary of where they stand on various issues, including health care.
Personally I think health care is going to be very important in the near future for the United States and I'll be watching closely to see what the various candidates say about it.
All of us - insurance companies, legislators, health care providers, and health care users - need to figure out a way to ensure more of the population is covered for at least basic health care. Otherwise I think we're going to see some really big cost problems in the next decade or so.
And guess who'll be footing the bill unless we can figure out a compromise? The American taxpayer. Which would be you and me.
Diabetes: technology, devices, software, and other stuff.
About Me
Name: Bernard Farrell
Location: Massachusetts, United States
I was born in Ireland and now live in the US.
I have had Type 1 diabetes for over 35 years. I struggle with my blood sugar, the same as most people with diabetes.
I wear a Cozmo 1800 insulin pump and a Dexcom SEVEN CGM to track my blood glucose levels. I also take Symlin to help control my post-meal blood sugars.
I'm blessed by God, and every day brings the possibility of a cure.
