Prediabetes is a growing workforce issue with serious health and cost consequences for American businesses.

  • An estimated 84 million Americans-and likely a growing number of your employees-have prediabetes, putting them at risk for type 2 diabetes, which can lead to kidney failure; blindness; heart attack; stroke; and loss of toes, feet, or legs.
  • Diabetes in adults has tripled in the past two decades; it is estimated that 1 in 3 adults in the United States could have diabetes by 2050.
  • Diabetes doubles the risk of physical disability; adults with diabetes who are 50 years or older lose independence 6–7 years before their peers without diabetes.
  • Diabetes is the costliest of the 155 most common diseases in the country, at $327 billion in 2017, including $237 billion in direct
    medical costs and $90 billion in indirect costs such as reduced productivity and absenteeism. That’s an increase of 60 percent from 2007.
  • Care for people with diabetes was responsible for 1 in every 4 U.S. healthcare dollars spent, and annual medical expenditures were $16,750 per person with diagnosed diabetes–2.3 times as much as for those without diabetes.

A Proven, Cost-Effective Way to Reduce the Risk of Developing Type 2 Diabetes

Change Your Lifestyle. Change Your Life. (CYL2) can help you reduce costs, increase productivity by reducing absenteeism, and promote the health of your employees.

The cost of offering the program is about $500-$700, depending on factors such as promotion, recruitment, staff, and logistics costs. The cost of preventing diabetes is typically much lower than the cost of managing the complications of type 2 diabetes.

CYL2 can cut your employees’ risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 58 percent. For people over 60 years of age, the program reduced risk by 71 percent. Even after 10 years, those who participated in the program had a 34 percent lower rate of type 2 diabetes.

What You Can Do

Talk to your health insurance carrier(s) about covering CDC-recognized programs as a health benefit.

  • Talk to a third-party administrator to help you determine potential return on investment (ROI) specific to your organization and help implement the program, process claims, recruit participants, and collect data. Or use CDC’s cost calculator to determine ROI at thewellnesscoalition.org/DPPworksites.
  • Call Martine Rocker at (334) 293-6502 to learn how The Wellness Coalition can help you implement and promote this program.