Medicare costs are exploding; so much so that experts have estimated that Medicare will run out of money before the end of the next decade. In fact, financial stability is so wounded that Medicare costs are projected to exceed those for Social Security in 2024.
However, researchers at the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor believe they may have found a solution to this health care crisis: Distributing Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE inhibitors)--drugs most commonly prescribed for adults with high blood pressure--to elderly patients suffering from diabetes ... free of charge.
Supposed Benefits
With the help of computerized models, researchers believe ACE inhibitors given away to 8 million diabetics over 65 would:
Prevent heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure, helping patients live longer, healthier lives.
Reduce the dollars spent by Medicare by more than $1,600 over the life of a patient. (A reduction in program costs may result in more money to spend on other health care needs of the elderly.)
But the question remains: Will this health care "solution" help matters, or only make them worse?
Annals of Internal Medicine July 19, 2005; Vol. 143, Issue 2: 89-99
Forbes July 18, 2005
Diabetes is a devastating disease that is loaded with serious complications. It is easy to understand the desire to seek some miracle drug solution for this. The problem with this approach is that when experts use drugs that in no way, shape or form address the cause of the disease, you can be virtually assured that there will eventually be some unexpected and unwanted side effects from this approach.
This is true if the drugs are free or even if someone pays you to take the drugs; the costs have nothing to do with the eventual outcome of the intervention.
ACE inhibitors are interesting drugs that primarily are used to treat high blood pressure. They are favored by many, as for most people they cause very few symptoms that would cause people to stop taking them. So it is completely understandable why the researchers would seek to use them to minimize the consequences of diabetes.
The way to eliminate diabetes, though, is not with drugs but with lifestyle modifications that truly address the underlying cause of the disease. You can review some of the dietary secrets to control diabetes that I revealed in an article that ran earlier this week.
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