Confronting the Obesity and Diabetes Epidemics

An estimated 30.3 million people in the U.S. have diabetes, or 9.4% of the population. In 2017, the costs of diagnosed diabetes totaled $327 billion, including $237 billion in health care costs and $90 billion in reduced productivity. Unfortunately, both the incidence of diabetes and obesity as a key risk factor continue to grow. Industry, government, advocacy groups, and patients are working together to reduce this health crisis in addition to its economic burden. This session will discuss what can be done differently in order to address this costly epidemic and will ask what is stopping us from achieving better outcomes.