Advocacy Action Alert: Support #DiabetesEd4All

American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) is spear-heading a twitter campaign to show public support for the Access to Quality Diabetes Education Acts of 2013. This effort is aimed at increasing access to diabetes education and diabetes self-management training (DSMT) to more people, in more places. It's important!!

On average, Medicare beneficiaries received approximately 1.2 hours DSMT services per year instead of the 10 hours that are made available to them through the benefit. DSMT has the potential to produce lifelong behavior change so it is critical that Medicare beneficiaries receive the full course of DSMT provided by qualified diabetes educators. Similar legislation has received a budget-neutral score from the Congressional Budget Office. Additionally recent studies have provided estimates that implementing this legislation would save Medicare $2 billion over ten years.

Here's how you can participate: tweet your Members of Congress encouraging them to cosponsor H.R. 1274/S. 945, the Access to Quality Diabetes Education Acts of 2013.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What does H.R. 1274/S. 945, the Access to Quality Diabetes Education Act of 2013 do?

A: The Access to Quality Diabetes Education Act of 2013 would recognize credentialed diabetes educators as Medicare providers for Diabetes Self-Management Training (DSMT) and potentially increase access to this critical benefit.

Q: Why tweet Members of Congress?

A: Twitter provides constituents with the ability to communicate directly with their Members of Congress. Almost every Member of Congress has a Twitter account.

Q: Where can I find my Member of Congress’ Twitter account?

A: You can find your Member of Congress’ Twitter handle here.

Sample Tweets

[@MoC] Cosponsor [Bill#] #DiabetesEd4All b/c #Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in adults.

[@MoC] Cosponsor [Bill#] #DiabetesEd4All b/c #Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure.

[@MoC] Cosponsor [Bill#] #DiabetesEd4All b/c #Diabetes is the cause of 60% of non-traumatic lower-limb amputations.

[@MoC] Cosponsor [Bill#] #Diabetes is the cause of the majority of deaths due to heart failure. #DiabetesEd4All

[@MoC] Cosponsor [Bill#] #DiabetesEd4All b/c #Diabetes is the cause of the majority of deaths due to stroke.

[@MoC] Cosponsor [Bill#] #DiabetesEd4All b/c #Diabetes accounts for more than 1 out of every 3 #Medicare dollars.

[@MoC] Cosponsor [Bill#] #DiabetesEd4All to reduce costs because #Diabetes costs will skyrocket to $336 BILLION by 2034.

[@MoC] Cosponsor [Bill#] #DiabetesEd4All significantly reduces #Diabetes health costs.

[@MoC] Cosponsor [Bill#] #DiabetesEd4All b/c it saves #Medicare $135 per month/per person w/ #Diabetes.