Nethercutt Co-Sponsors Diabetes Screening

Two Northwest Congress members who have children with diabetes sponsored free blood screening Wednesday on Capitol Hill to raise awareness of the estimated 8 million Americans who don’t know they have the disease.

“It’s a big number, an impersonal number, but … it isn’t impersonal to us,” said Rep. Elizabeth Furse, D-Ore., who has an adult daughter with the disease.

Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Wash., whose 16-year-old daughter was diagnosed 10 years ago, said the screenings were part of “an all-out congressional effort to notify the American public about the dangers of undetected diabetes.

“This is a big day for those of us who care about diabetes and finding a cure for diabetes,” he said.

He and Furse have introduced a bill in the House that would expand Medicare coverage to pay for outpatient training that enables diabetics to manage their condition themselves, learning how to monitor their intake of sugar and test their blood. It also would expand Medicare coverage for blood tests, now provided for insulin-dependent diabetics, to include those who are not dependent on insulin.

Similar proposals failed to pass in the closing days of Congress last year, but both lawmakers are confident of final approval this year.

Furse and Nethercutt said the Congressional Budget Office estimated last year that their proposals would save $223 million over six years in reduced costs for diabetes treatment.