On a day intended to spread diabetes awareness around the world, an Alberta-based health care lobby group is once again calling on the provincial government to expand services included in the Insulin Pump Therapy Program.
Nov. 14 is World Diabetes Day.
According to the International Diabetes Foundation, the campaign draws attention to issues of paramount importance to the diabetes world and keeps diabetes in the public and political spotlight.
Diabetes is a disease in which the body either can't produce insulin or can't properly use the insulin it produces.
Friends of Medicare has seized upon this year’s theme, Access to Diabetes Care, to advocate for continuous glucose monitors to be included the province’s Insulin Pump Therapy Program.
The program covers the cost of insulin pumps and basic diabetic supplies for Alberta residents with Type 1 diabetes mellitus. Insulin pump therapy is a way of managing diabetes by administering insulin using an insulin pump, as an alternative to multiple daily injections.
Continuous glucose monitors are not included in the program.
A continuous glucose monitor can be livesaving for people who experience low glucose at night and risk not waking up in the morning, according to Diabetes Canada.
It is a wearable device that tracks blood glucose (sugar) every few minutes, throughout the day and night. The readings are relayed in real time to a device which can be read by the patient, caregiver or health-care provider, even remotely.
"The Alberta government should follow Manitoba’s lead when it comes to covering crucial equipment for folks living with diabetes, specifically expanding coverage to include continuous glucose monitors,” said Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare in a statement released today. “Alberta’s current complex patchwork of private and public drug and health benefit plans is leaving far too many struggling to pay for the medications and equipment they need.”
According to Diabetes Canada, continuous glucose monitoring systems typically range from $3,000 to $6,000 a year.
In March of this year, Manitoba extended coverage for both continuous glucose monitors and flash glucose monitors to all adults with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes who meet the established criteria.
Friends of Medicare and Pump 4 Life continue to ask Albertans to keep up the pressure by calling on the government to expand diabetes care.
“An estimated 420 working-age Canadians with diabetes die each year because they don't have adequate access to their equipment and medications,” said Gallaway. “This is unacceptable. Albertans living with diabetes deserve action, now. They deserve universal coverage for the medications and equipment they need, not more delays.”
World Diabetes Day is marked every year on Nov. 14, the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, who co-discovered insulin along with Charles Best in 1922.
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