From the Senate Floor, Senator Collins Recognizes Maine Advocates During American Diabetes Month

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Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Susan Collins delivered remarks from the Senate floor recognizing several Mainers for their work to raise awareness about diabetes. Senators Collins and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), co-chairs of the U.S. Senate Diabetes Caucus, authored a bipartisan resolution recognizing November 2024 as American Diabetes Month.

A transcript of Senator Collins’ remarks are as follows:

First, let me thank the Senator from New Hampshire, Senator Shaheen, for her extraordinary leadership on diabetes. She has worked night and day on this issue the entire time she has served in the Senate, and together, we formed a bipartisan partnership that recognizes that diabetes affects men and women, children of all races, political affiliations, parts of the country, ages – it simply does not care.

During American Diabetes Month, it is critical that we continue to raise awareness about the burden of diabetes on the 38 million Americans living with either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes. This is an astonishing 12 percent of the U.S. population, and it includes more than 116,000 adults in my State of Maine. 

For those with Type 1 diabetes in particular, there is no day off from this disease.

I know so many children who were diagnosed as children with Type 1, and this is a disease that they will have for the rest of their lives, absent a cure. They include a 10 year-old boy whom I met my very first year in the Senate in 1997 and I'll never forget his looking up at me and saying, ‘Senator Collins, I wish I could just have one day off each year from my diabetes, my birthday or Christmas, just one day.’

And it was then that I knew that I had to dedicate my efforts toward better treatments, earlier diagnosis, and one day, a cure of this devastating disease.

Since then, my life has been enriched by getting to know so many people who have Type 1 diabetes. I think of Aidan Sweeney, who I first met at a Children's Congress, where children from all over the United States came to Washington to talk about what it was like to have Type 1 diabetes. Aiden was just a toddler when he came with his mother, Caroline Sweeney, to testify before Congress – she testified for him. Today, he's a thriving college student in Boston.

I think of people like Ruby Whitmore, one of my neighbors in Maine, who has had diabetes since a very young age. I think of my niece, Nicole Wiesendanger, who has kept a log, a journal of her journey with Type 1 diabetes. And I think of Bek Hoskins, whom I met just this past year, who, because of the price of insulin, felt that she could not take the full amount that she was advised to take by her doctor, and ended up in the emergency room of a hospital very ill.

I'm appalled to learn of the experience of Senator Shaheen's granddaughter, who has lived with Type 1 since she was just eight years old and was recently denied care that she requires.

I agree with Senator Shaheen that we must hold insurance carriers accountable when they apply unreasonable utilization management techniques that benefits the companies at the expense of everyday Americans, and that contradict the best treatment for the person with Type 1.

Doctors and patients in Maine are frustrated with the unfair burden that these practices add to the burdens that these individuals are already coping with.

We must and we can do better.

Diabetes is also one of our country's most costly diseases in both human and economic terms. It is the leading cause of kidney disease, blindness in working age adults, lower limb amputations, heart disease, and stroke. Approximately one in four healthcare dollars and one in three Medicare dollars are spent treating people with diabetes. Diabetes cost our nation $413 billion in 2022 and medical expenditures for individuals coping with diabetes are roughly 2.6 times higher than expenditures for those without the disease.

As the founder and the co-chair of the Senate Diabetes Caucus, I have been proud to lead this bipartisan resolution designating the month of November as American Diabetes Month. My hope is that it will increase public awareness and support for federal policies and investments that will help us to better treat, prevent, and ultimately cure this disease. And I join Senator Shaheen in thanking our many Senate colleagues for supporting this resolution and passing it by unanimous consent on Tuesday.

While American Diabetes Month is an important opportunity to raise awareness about the burden of diabetes, it should also be a time to celebrate the progress that we have made in improving the lives of millions of Americans living with this disease.

One example of progress is the sustained federal investments in programs that help prevent and treat the disease and its complications, including the Special Diabetes Program, which, as Senator Shaheen pointed out, is set to expire at the end of this year. We cannot allow that to occur.

Earlier this month, I was proud to lead a bipartisan letter to our Senate leadership, signed by 55 Senators emphasizing the importance of the Special Diabetes Program. From new technologies like the artificial pancreas systems to new therapies to delay the clinical onset of Type 1 diabetes, this program is improving the lives of people with diabetes today and accelerating the progress to cures.

I remember when I first became involved in this issue, the number of daily finger pricks that were necessary, the alarms that had to be set during the night so that parents could check on their children with Type 1, and the burdensome, large pump systems that were used. We have come so far with the closed loop artificial pancreas, the continuous glucose monitors that can send a phone message and an alarm to a parent if a child's blood sugar has become too high or too low.

We've come a long ways, but it has taken investment, and that's what we must continue.

Through continued federal investment in biomedical research and prevention programs and by passing bipartisan legislation to address the high cost of insulin, like our INSULIN Act, as well as broader Pharmacy Benefit Manager reform, Congress has the opportunity to continue to build on this progress for the benefit of those living with diabetes.

So, Madam President, I look forward to continuing to partner with Senator Shaheen and the members of the Senate Diabetes Caucus that we co-chair to advance policies to remove barriers to care, to lower the cost of insulin, and to support the critical research and prevention programs that are so important to the quality of life to those millions of Americans living with diabetes.

Thank you, Madam President.

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Senators Collins and Shaheen have long-led action in the U.S. Senate to advance priorities that will lower the costs of insulin, invest in treatment and detection, and prioritize diabetes research.

Earlier this month, Senators Collins and Shaheen led a bipartisan letter to Senate leadership emphasizing the importance of the Special Diabetes Program (SDP).  Senator Collins and Shaheen secured a short-term reauthorization of SDP funding at an annual rate of approximately $160 million per year per component as part of the fiscal year 2024 funding packages.  This was the first funding increase for the SDP in 20 years.  In June 2023, Senators Collins and Shaheen introduced legislation to reauthorize the program.

In June, Senators Collins and Shaheen introduced the Strengthening Collective Resources for Encouraging Education Needed (SCREEN) for Type 1 Diabetes Act, a new bipartisan bill to improve early detection and screening for Type 1 diabetes.

Last year, Senators Collins and Shaheen introduced the Improving Needed Safeguards for Users of Lifesaving Insulin Now (INSULIN) Act of 2023, which would comprehensively address the skyrocketing costs of insulin, removing barriers to care and making it more accessible for millions more Americans.

Last fall, the Senators penned a joint op-ed about the importance of lowering the cost of insulin.

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