Health committee  Dave, can I show them?

Health committee  I wear a continuous glucose monitor. That's a readout on my phone of what my blood sugar is. It's high because I was running late due to traffic and I'm stressed out. This monitors me all the time. If I start to go low, which can happen to many people with type 1 in the night and

Health committee  An insulin pump costs about $8,000 to buy and then about another $3,000 a year to run.

Health committee  There are no shortages of insulin. There are a lot of news stories in the United States right now about people not having access to it due to costs. That's for a variety of complicated reasons we're fortunate not to be experiencing in Canada to the same degree. No, there's no sh

Health committee  I can give you a partial answer to your question partly because we lack the central data that would be necessary in order to properly answer your question, and that must be remedied. What we know is that just through identifying people with prediabetes and offering them a prove

Health committee  Currently, there are critical gaps in what is covered in terms of diabetic supplies and devices in every province and territory in Canada. I'm remiss in not having mentioned an insulin pump because I have been wearing one for 23 years and literally couldn't live without it. I

Health committee  We are seeing data suggesting that for people who are good candidates for insulin pumps the pumps do prevent long-term complications, thereby saving costs to the health care system. Insulin pump technology is still relatively new and data are emerging as more and more people are

Health committee  That's exactly why a strategy is so needed. Currently today, we have no overarching framework, no guidelines, no standards that we're working towards, no targets that we're working towards in any kind of coordinated way. We think that strategy can really help achieve that. It c

Health committee  Most of the provinces have some coverage for test strips under certain circumstances. If a person has type 1 diabetes they generally have much broader access to test strips than if they have type 2 diabetes. Different provinces have different limits. For example, Alberta's provis

Health committee  You're absolutely right. First, it is critical that people have access to the test strips they need based on their experience of diabetes, and that really varies from individual to individual. That's why we stress that coverage for devices and supplies such as test strips must

Health committee  I can add to what Dr. Whiteside said. You raised some excellent points. There are so many factors that contribute to the risk of people developing diabetes. Even if everybody went to their doctor for an annual physical, one of the challenges we face right now is that not all heal

Health committee  Perhaps I could start. We really took those findings of the Auditor General very much to heart as we began the effort of developing the diabetes 360° strategy. I think a critical underpinning of it to date has been the collaboration among 120 expert stakeholders, many of whom are

Health committee  We know that costs, as you identified, are a significant barrier for people living with diabetes. Depending on where in Canada you live, what other private insurance you have and what your treatment protocol is for your diabetes, it can cost a patient out of pocket up to $15,000

Health committee  I couldn't agree more with everything that the other witnesses have said. In fact, the final recommendations of diabetes 360°, which were published since we were last here at committee, really took into account all of those witness recommendations. They include that we should est

Health committee  We understand that subsequent to their announcement of their intention to do so on December 8, the CRA reviewed about 2,300 cases of people with diabetes who had been disallowed between May and December of 2017. On review, they approved 58% of them but re-rejected 42%. We've un