• Seeking Answers to Rising Insulin Costs

    Insulin prices have nearly tripled in recent years, prompting the caucus co-chairs to investigate this troubling development. Representatives DeGette and Reed are working with federal agencies and key stakeholders in the diabetes community to determine the causes of rising costs and best steps to make this life-saving drug affordable for all.
  • About the Caucus

    Learn more about the Diabetes Caucus.
  • Diabetes in the United States

    A snapshot of Diabetes in the United States by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This includes fast facts on such things as risk factors, prevalence, and cost.
  • About Diabetes

    One out of every ten health care dollars is spent on diabetes and its complications. Furthermore, one out of every five health care dollars is spent caring for someone with diagnosed diabetes.

Our Mission

The Congressional Diabetes Caucus was formed in 1996 and has grown to be the largest caucus in Congress with over 300 members in the 116th Congress. The mission of the Congressional Diabetes Caucus is to educate members of Congress and their staff about diabetes and to support legislative activities that would improve diabetes research, education and treatment. Our achievements have been significant. We were successful in obtaining $1.5 billion for the Special Diabetes Program, a program that funds juvenile diabetes research and Native American treatment and prevention programs through the Indian Health Service.

We played a key role in helping to enact legislation to provide Medicare coverage for blood testing strips, glucose monitors and diabetes self-management education. We successfully urged the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to provide coverage for insulin infusion pumps. The Postal Service unveiled a diabetes awareness stamp - a measure we actively supported.

While we continue to advocate for the funding recommendations put forth by the Diabetes Research Working Group, increases in research dollars at the CDC and NIH have begun to show results. Islet transplantation trials show promise for curing type 1 (juvenile) diabetes in the near future. Our efforts will continue on type 2 (adult onset) diabetes, which is now beginning to strike individuals in their youth.