Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation with my colleague from Ohio, Senator Sherrod Brown, that would remove an unnecessary, outdated barrier for Medicare beneficiaries managing diabetes. Our legislation would allow physician assistants (PAs) and nurse practitioners (NPs) to satisfy the Medicare documentation requirement certifying a patient's need for therapeutic, or diabetic, shoes, which will improve access to care, reduce barriers to proper diabetic management, and help to reduce the prevalence of costly complications that can arise if diabetic symptoms are not managed properly. This bipartisan bill, the Promoting Access to Diabetic Shoes Act, is a companion to H.R. 1617 from my fellow Diabetes Caucus Co- Chair, Representative Tom Reed of New York, which has growing support on both sides of the aisle in the House. As the founder and co-chair of the Senate Diabetes Caucus, I have worked since the very beginning of my Senate service to increase awareness of the threats posed by diabetes, invest in research, and improve access to treatment options for the over 30 million Americans, including twelve million seniors, who suffer from diabetes. In addition to the human toll, diabetes is also the most expensive chronic illness in the country. A new American Diabetes Association report released in March titled, ``Economic Costs of Diabetes in the U.S. in 2017,'' found that the direct and indirect costs of diagnosed diabetes in the U.S.…”