Diabetes Prevention

Diabetes Information Network

Diabetes Prevention vs. Treatment

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of diabetes is that complications often occur simply because the disease wasn’t properly managed. We know that prevention is the best way to avoid illness, yet today preventive care is not covered by most kinds of medical insurance. Nor is it a priority with most physicians. In fact, the federal health programs Medicaid and Medicare both have specific exclusions against paying for any form of preventive treatment.

Although the treatment of complications using prescription drugs is fully covered, the current medical insurance system seems designed to encourage, not prevent complications. Millions of dollars are available to treat complications once they occur, but not one thin dime is there for prevention. That’s a formula for disaster if ever there was one, and the health consequences for you can be truly devastating.

While diabetic drugs may be the cornerstone of your overall treatment plan, you need to know that there is a great deal more you can do to help control your blood sugar level and help avoid complications.

The Information Void

But where can you turn for guidance on the use of natural medicines? While your doctor and pharmacist are experts on the use of prescription drugs – they tend to know very little about the new more natural treatment options.

Our current managed care system isn’t helping matters either. Managed care physicians have less time than ever to spend educating patients. They average around 10 minutes with each patient, which is entirely too little time to explain a complex metabolic disease like diabetes.

Under the pressures of managed care, rushed doctors often find it much quicker and easier to simply prescribe diabetic drugs while they ignore the newer more natural holistic treatments that are now becoming available.

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