This is a call for B.C. government to extend insulin pump coverage to all people living with Type 1 diabetes.
As we go to the polls on May 14, we will have to decide who can best lead us in the coming years as we face a wide range of pressing economic and social issues. Among those issues will be the funding of healthcare in our province.
More than 400,250 British Colombians are living with diabetes, including more than 31,350 people living with Type 1 diabetes. People living with diabetes are at high-risk for developing serious long-term complications such as kidney failure, heart attack, stroke, blindness, and limb amputations. Those complications account for 80 per cent of the cost of diabetes to the health-care system. As someone who has been living with Type 2 diabetes for a little over a decade, I know first-hand that diabetes is a relentless disease.
There are many ways to lower the impact of diabetes on the health-care system, including education; awareness; improvements to healthcare facilities; better access to medications; and an extension of support for people living with Type 1 diabetes who use insulin pumps. Currently, the provincial insulin pump program is available up to the age of 18. If coverage continued for adults, serious and costly complications could be prevented. It is also estimated, according to the Canadian Diabetes Association, that extending the coverage for pumps for those who meet the medical requirements could improve health outcomes for British Colombians and save the province up to $5.3 million per year by 2032.
As you review the platforms and promises offered by the candidates, I hope you will pay close attention to the issue of healthcare and be guided both in your voting and in your expectations that campaign promises will be implemented. It serves the needs of British Colombians who require support directly, and it serves all of us by being fiscally and socially responsible.
David DeVore
Prince George
