Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 1995, the Eliminating Disparities in Diabetes Prevention and Access and Care Act, would authorize a study on how diabetes affects those with health disparities. Diabetes affects an estimated 24 million Americans. Approximately 57 million Americans have a pre-diabetic condition. Type 1 diabetes is a disease which results from the body's failure to produce insulin. Type 2 diabetes, which is far more common, results from the body's inability to make enough insulin or properly use insulin, or the body is peripherally resistant to insulin. According to the World Health Organization, an astonishing 6 percent of the world's population is affected with diabetes, causing six deaths every minute and 3.2 million deaths yearly. In the United States we spend well over $200 billion a year on diabetes, yet the 2006 diabetes mortality rate for Texas was 27 deaths per 100,000 persons. For my Hispanic and African American constituents, the rate was 42 and 49 per 100,000; 1.7 million Texans over 18 years old have diabetes, and it is our State's sixth leading cause of death. This bill would allow us to understand if minorities have a higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes, understand the reason for that higher rate, and begin to provide some relief for this condition. I urge my colleagues to support this bill. I yield back the balance of my time.”