Good morning.
I appreciate the opportunity to participate in the committee's pre-budget consultations. I wish I were here to report better news about the fight against diabetes. However, that is not the case.
Today, three million Canadians are living with diabetes. Diabetes rates in Canada have doubled over the past decade and are forecast to nearly double again by 2020.
Over the next decade we expect to see a 67% increase in diabetes rates in Alberta and a 62% increase in British Columbia. If these statistics are not troublesome enough, a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control estimates that one in three people in the United States will be living with diabetes by 2050.
While these numbers are staggering, the economic impact of diabetes on our health care system and our economy is equally sobering. The cost of diabetes in Canada currently stands at $12.2 billion annually, and it is estimated that this cost will grow to $17 billion by the end of the decade. By 2020, the economic impact of diabetes in Canada will have increased by over 130% from year 2000 levels.
If, as projected by the CDC in the United States, Canada were to reach the one-in-three level by 2050, the costs associated with diabetes in Canada would be $54 billion annually. So it's clear: we have a diabetes epidemic in Canada and it's getting worse. It is also clear that this epidemic poses not only a significant threat to the health of millions of Canadians, but it also threatens the sustainability of our health care system and our future economic prosperity.
Our recommendations today are aimed at improving not just the health of Canadians but the health of our economy. Eighty percent of diabetes-related costs are for treating the complications associated with diabetes and not the treatment and management of diabetes itself. These serious, potentially life-threatening complications include kidney failure, heart attack, stroke, and limb amputation. Therefore, if we are to address the economic impact and the burden of diabetes, we need to focus on keeping those living with diabetes healthy to avoid or at least delay these serious complications.
Our brief to the committee contains three recommendations. However, today I will focus my remarks on our first recommendation, which is to extend the federal disability tax credit to those living with chronic diseases such as diabetes.
The greatest challenge for people living with diabetes is the affordability of the medicines and devices they need to effectively self-manage their disease. People with chronic disease face three times higher out-of-pocket health expenses than the average Canadian. The average out-of-pocket cost for someone living with type 2 diabetes in Canada is $2,400 a year. In New Brunswick it's $3,500 a year.
People living with diabetes are among those who can least afford these costs. In fact, 57% of people living with diabetes cannot afford to comply with their prescribed diabetes management therapy. As a result, many of these people end up developing serious complications that lead to poor health and premature death.
Over 6,000 Canadians die each month due to their diabetes. To put that in perspective, Mr. Chair, that is equivalent to the population of the town of Devon, Alberta, dying each month due to diabetes.
The disability tax credit would offset some of these out-of-pocket costs and would allow an increased number of Canadians living with diabetes the means to prevent these secondary complications. When originally introduced, the disability tax credit was limited to people who met very specific eligibility criteria based on severe physical disability. However, since its introduction, the criteria for this tax credit has been expanded to recognize the changing health status and needs of Canadians, including those with mental illness and those requiring life-sustaining therapy. However, only a very small number of Canadians living with diabetes are eligible for this credit.
So my question to the committee is this: why must people living with diabetes have to wait until they lose a limb or go on dialysis to be eligible for this tax credit? Would it not make more sense to provide this tax credit beforehand so that they can afford to effectively self-manage their disease and thereby prevent the need for amputation or other acute interventions? Such an enhancement to this tax credit would not only assist in preventing needless human suffering but would also save much needed health care dollars.
Thank you.