[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 173 (Thursday, November 21, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6708-S6709]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
American Diabetes Month
Mrs. SHAHEEN. Madam President, I am pleased to come to the floor with
my colleague Senator Collins to talk about the fact that this week the
Senate passed a resolution designating November as American Diabetes
Month.
Every November, we work together--my friend and colleague, my fellow
cochair of the Senate Diabetes Caucus, Senator Collins--to pass this
resolution so that we can raise awareness about what is a pervasive,
chronic disease that 38 million Americans live with today. The
resolution also draws attention to the many barriers that patients face
when it comes to receiving adequate care to manage their diabetes.
By passing this resolution out of the Senate, we are reaffirming
Congress's commitment to increase diabetes treatment options, to fund
more research, and to prevent new cases.
While I am grateful that the Senate has passed this resolution again
this year, I wish I could say that we are truly honoring the commitment
that is outlined in the resolution. But, sadly, I am angry and I am
frustrated over the lack of progress that spans not just years but
decades to make commonsense changes and find real solutions to the
problems that face diabetes patients.
For 38 million Americans, this isn't a matter of politics, of what
political party you join or if you don't belong to one; for those 38
million, it is actually a matter of life or death, literally.
This is an issue, as I have said to this body many times, that is
personal for me and my family. In the Gallery today is my granddaughter
Elle, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes shortly before her 8th
birthday. I have seen firsthand the challenges that Elle, my daughter
Stefany, and their family face trying to manage Elle's diabetes.
Managing type 1, especially when you get diagnosed at such a young
age, is a complicated, delicate balance of daily insulin injections,
blood glucose monitoring, and other supporting drugs. Elle and her mom
and her dad have spent countless hours finding a treatment regimen that
keeps her blood glucose level stable and allows her to live a full,
happy life.
Elle is now 24. She lives in L.A., and she has spent years
advocating, herself, to improve diabetes policies as part of
Breakthrough T1D, which was formerly JDRF. Yet, every year, Elle, like
all diabetes patients on some insurance, has to prove to her insurer
that she still has type 1. Now, I find that strange because anybody who
knows anything about type 1 knows that it is a chronic illness, that it
doesn't go away. And I am angry because this is real for our family and
for millions of families across the country. And it is scary.
Just this week, Elle was denied coverage for a prescription that she
relies on to manage her diabetes. She was denied a medication that she
needs to live her very busy and full life. The medication she was
denied does the same work of three other drugs combined. Now all of
Elle's work to find the right treatment is back to square one because
of a decision that was made not by her doctor--and she has been a
patient at the Joslin Diabetes Center, which is one of the premier
diabetes treatment centers not just in the country but in the world. It
wasn't her doctor at the Joslin Center who made that decision. It
wasn't her local primary care doctor. It was the insurance company.
I wish I could say this was the first time, but denials like these
have become a common occurrence. And I think most folks know this, but
in case you don't, as I said, type 1 diabetes is a chronic disease. It
doesn't go away because you turn another year older. It doesn't go away
because you move to a different location. Elle is going to live with
this disease, unless we have a breakthrough, for the rest of her life,
and she will spend, every day, some portion of her day thinking about
it. She will spend every day making choices about what to eat or drink,
about the right exercise routine, and how she can best manage her
levels. It is unconscionable that a decision by an insurer would make
these choices even harder.
We are lucky in our family because we have resources and we have time
to dedicate to researching and solving some of these issues, to try to
navigate the healthcare system, but, sadly, that is not the case for so
many families across this country, people like the single mom who works
multiple jobs to keep food on the table for her kids.
I understand why Americans are angry with the status quo. They should
be. We should all be because it is well past time we finally get help
to those people who need it to address their type 1 diabetes.
I know that Senator Collins and I have legislation. It is called the
INSULIN Act. It is an effort to help people who cannot afford the cost
of their insulin. We know that is an issue because spending on insulin
has tripled in the last decade. Nearly one in five patients is still
forced to ration their insulin.
Capping out-of-pocket costs for insulin and finding ways to increase
insulin competition are no-brainers for most Americans. Sadly, that
hasn't been true in the Senate. In fact, this is an issue that receives
so much support from the American people that addressing insulin costs
has, sadly, become a political football. Unfortunately, that comes at
the expense of patients who rely on daily insulin to survive.
Senator Collins and I started working on this issue--our legislation
in 2019. Part of the effort includes funding more research into curing
diabetes. The diabetes community has seen advances in treatment, but
insulin, which was invented over 100 years ago, is still the only real
way to manage the disease.
The Special Diabetes Program, or SDP, funds vital research into type
1 at the National Institutes of Health. SDP also funds successful
diabetes prevention and treatment programs for American Indian and
Alaskan Native communities because they are disproportionately affected
by the disease. These programs have a proven track record, but until
last year, the Special Diabetes Program was flat-funded for two
decades.
Senator Collins has done remarkable work, and I think it is not a
coincidence that when she became vice chair of the Appropriations
Committee, we finally got an increase in the reauthorization of the
Special Diabetes Program. But we have to pass that reauthorization
again by the end of this year.
Now, I hope Congress will finally realize the importance of this
program and provide it the funding that it deserves. I hope that we can
also get this body to pass our INSULIN Act because, for Elle, for
families across this country, in every corner of every State, we
[[Page S6709]]
have to do better for all of them, for the people who love them,
because behind every statistic is a person who is just trying to make
ends meet.
We have the power here to make their lives easier, to make healthcare
more affordable for the millions of people who are living with
diabetes. We can create a future where no one has to choose between
their health and their livelihood. Why wouldn't we take this
opportunity to help our neighbors? I know Senator Collins and I will
continue to work toward that end.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine.
Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, first, let me thank the Senator from
New Hampshire, Senator Shaheen, for her extraordinary leadership on
diabetes. She has worked night and day on this issue the entire time
she has served in the Senate. Together we formed a bipartisan
partnership that recognizes that diabetes affects men and women and
children of all races, political affiliations, parts of the country. It
is ageless. It simply does not care.
During American Diabetes Month, it is critical that we continue to
raise awareness about the burden of diabetes on the 38 million
Americans living with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. This is an
astonishing 12 percent of the U.S. population, and it includes more
than 116,000 adults in my State of Maine.
For those with type 1 diabetes in particular, there is no day off
from this disease. I know so many children who were diagnosed as
children with type 1, and this is a disease they will have for the rest
of their lives, absent a cure. They include a 10-year-old boy whom I
met my very first year in the Senate, in 1997. I will never forget his
looking up at me and saying: Senator Collins, I wish I could just have
one day off each year from my diabetes--my birthday or Christmas--just
one day.
It was then that I knew I had to dedicate my efforts toward better
treatments, earlier diagnosis, and one day a cure of this devastating
disease. Since then, my life has been enriched by getting to know so
many people who have type 1 diabetes.
I think of Aidan Sweeney, whom I first met at a Children's Congress,
where children from all over the United States came to Washington to
talk about what it was like to have type 1 diabetes. Aidan was just a
toddler when he came with his mother Caroline Sweeney to testify before
Congress. She testified for him. Today, he is a thriving college
student in Boston.
I think of people like Ruby Whitmore, one of my neighbors in Maine,
who has had diabetes since a very young age.
I think of my niece Nicole Wiesendanger, who has kept a log, a
journal of her journey with type 1 diabetes.
I think of Bek Hoskins, whom I met just this past year, who, because
of the price of insulin, felt that she could not take the full amount
that she was advised to take by her doctor and ended up in the
emergency room of a hospital, very ill.
I am appalled to learn of the experience of Senator Shaheen's
granddaughter, who has lived with type 1 since she was just 8 years old
and was recently denied care that she requires. I agree with Senator
Shaheen that we must hold insurance carriers accountable when they
apply unreasonable utilization management techniques that benefit the
companies at the expense of everyday Americans and that contradict the
best treatment for the person with type 1. Doctors and patients in
Maine are frustrated with the unfair burden these practices add to the
burdens these individuals are already coping with. We must and we can
do better.
Diabetes is also one of our country's most costly diseases in both
human and economic terms. It is the leading cause of kidney disease,
blindness in working-age adults, lower limb amputations, heart disease,
and stroke. Approximately one in four healthcare dollars and one in
three Medicare dollars are spent treating people with diabetes.
Diabetes cost our Nation $413 billion in 2022, and medical expenditures
for individuals coping with diabetes are roughly 2.6 times higher than
expenditures for those without the disease.
As the founder and the cochair of the Senate Diabetes Caucus, I have
been proud to lead this bipartisan resolution designating the month of
November as ``American Diabetes Month.'' My hope is that it will
increase public awareness and support for Federal policies and
investments that will help us to better treat, prevent, and ultimately
cure this disease. I join Senator Shaheen in thanking our many Senate
colleagues for supporting this resolution and passing it by unanimous
consent on Tuesday.
While American Diabetes Month is an important opportunity to raise
awareness about the burden of diabetes, it should also be a time to
celebrate the progress that we have made in improving the lives of
millions of Americans living with this disease.
One example of progress is the sustained Federal investments in
programs that help prevent and treat the disease and its complications,
including the Special Diabetes Program, which, as Senator Shaheen
pointed out, is set to expire at the end of this year. We cannot allow
that to occur. Earlier this month, I was proud to lead a bipartisan
letter to our Senate leadership, signed by 55 Senators, emphasizing the
importance of the Special Diabetes Program.
From new technologies like the artificial pancreas systems to new
therapies to delay the clinical onset of type 1 diabetes, this program
is improving the lives of people with diabetes today and accelerating
the progress to cures.
I remember when I first became involved in this issue, the number of
daily finger pricks that were necessary, the alarms that had to be set
during the nights so that parents could check on their children with
type 1, the burdensome large pump systems that were used. We have come
so far with the closed-loop artificial pancreas, the continuous glucose
monitors that can send a phone message and an alarm to a parent if a
child's blood sugar has become too high or too low. We have come a long
way. But it has taken investment, and that is what we must continue.
Through continued Federal investment in biomedical research and
prevention programs and by passing bipartisan legislation to address
the high costs of insulin, like our INSULIN Act, as well as broader
pharmacy benefit manager reform, Congress has the opportunity to
continue to build on this progress for the benefit of those living with
diabetes.
Madam President, I look forward to continuing to partner with Senator
Shaheen and the members of the Senate Diabetes Caucus that we cochair
to advance policies, to remove barriers to care, to lower the costs of
insulin, and to support the critical research and prevention programs
that are so important to the quality of life to those millions of
Americans living with diabetes.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Booker). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
The senior Senator from Maryland.