Health insurers may soon be required to include more tests related to diabetes detection and prevention in their coverage offerings that the insured will not be charged for.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act lists a number of preventative services that insurers must offer free of charge, i.e. with no co-pay or special charges included in premiums. The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force is charged with reviewing preventative measures and grading them. Those that receive an A or B join the list of free preventative services.
The task force released a Grade B recommendation this week to include regular screenings for "abnormal blood glucose as part of cardiovascular risk assessment in adults aged 40 to 70 years who are overweight or obese." Such patients may not yet have diabetes 2, but 15 percent to 30 percent of them will graduate into the disease over time if steps aren't taken to reverse their glucose conditions, the task force said.
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For those who come up positive for abnormal blood glucose, the task force says clinicians should steer them to "intensive behavioral counseling interventions to promote a healthful diet and physical activity." This would include programs designed to help patients lose weight, get more physical activity and quit smoking. Obesity, smoking and lack of physical activity are related to the development of diabetes and, as the task force notes, all three can be addressed.
For insurers, adoption of the recommendation, which will happen, means absorbing more patient costs. Both the glucose tests and the "counseling," as yet undefined, will be free to the insured.
A spokesperson for America's Health Insurance Plans told Kaiser Health News that "health plans were generally supportive of this recommendation, although there are concerns about the lack of direct evidence that measuring blood glucose leads to improved health outcomes." That suggests more research, or at least more industry lobbying, lies ahead.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
