Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Jason
Speaker 1: Kelly on Bloomberg Radio. Let's get to our next guest,
Speaker 1: Absolutely Tracy Brown, President and CEO of the American Diabetes Association,
Speaker 1: joining us on the phone from Arlington, Virginia. And Tracy,
Speaker 1: first of all, thank you so much for joining us. Yes,
Speaker 1: Jason and Carol, thank you for having me. Well, we
Speaker 1: are excited to talk to you, in part because you
Speaker 1: know you are very much on the front lines of
Speaker 1: this and you are dealing with an issue that Carol
Speaker 1: and I have been talking about a lot, which is
Speaker 1: the disproportionate effect this disease is having on folks with
Speaker 1: underlying conditions, with folks in communities of color, economically disadvantaged people.
Speaker 1: Tell us what you are seeing, What do we need
Speaker 1: to know that maybe we're missing beyond those sort of
Speaker 1: broad strokes. So, uh, Jason, I mean, I think you
Speaker 1: have hit the nail on the head here. This uh
Speaker 1: bit nineteen pandemic has really shined a light on some
Speaker 1: existing problems in a very large way. You talk about
Speaker 1: people with underlying conditions, that's a hundred and thirty three
Speaker 1: million Americans um living with some kind of underlying condition.
Speaker 1: When you think about diabetes specifically, you are talking about
Speaker 1: thirty four million people who are diagnosed with diabetes, eight
Speaker 1: millions who are diagnosed with pre diabetes. I'm one of
Speaker 1: these people living with diabetes and has have been thriving
Speaker 1: while living with this disease for sixteen years. But here's
Speaker 1: the issue. I think you've heard that for anyone who
Speaker 1: contracts COVID teen that has an underlying condition, the higher
Speaker 1: rate of having a poor outcome is what's happening. This
Speaker 1: is demonstrate by data that is coming out across the
Speaker 1: state that out of the death that have occurred with
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen right now, there are the upwards of um
Speaker 1: in many states or more Jason, those people have had diabetes.
Speaker 1: When you double down on that and then you start
Speaker 1: to look at the UH numbers as it relates to
Speaker 1: people of color, you're talking to the upwards of seventy
Speaker 1: to seventy in some of these states that the depth
Speaker 1: of coronavirus are people of color. This is a real
Speaker 1: issue that is affecting all of America right now in
Speaker 1: this CRISI. And this goes to a bigger conversation too,
Speaker 1: that we had earlier in the week that talked about Tracy.
Speaker 1: You know, unfortunately, the level of health care that you
Speaker 1: get is often contingent on the job you get, and
Speaker 1: the job you get is contingent on the education you get,
Speaker 1: and the educational access that you have is often, you know,
Speaker 1: courtesy of the world that you are born into. And
Speaker 1: we know that minority groups are often left behind when
Speaker 1: it comes to that initial kind of gayway into a
Speaker 1: much better life. And so this is a big problem.
Speaker 1: How do we get at the core of it? So, uh, Carol,
Speaker 1: what you adjust articulate it is the social determinants of health,
Speaker 1: right like, these are all of the environmental UH factors
Speaker 1: that affect um people and uh particularly diabetes and again
Speaker 1: other underlying conditions. And if you think about these social
Speaker 1: determinants of health, there's data out there that says that
Speaker 1: equates about eighty percent of poor health outcomes. Now, let's overlay,
Speaker 1: like we already had an issue pre COVID and you
Speaker 1: have just outlined, let us add on top of this
Speaker 1: the COVID nineteen crisis, with more than twenty six million
Speaker 1: people or more now filing for unemployment. The majority of
Speaker 1: those people when you lose your job, you lose your
Speaker 1: insurance when you lose your job. Not only did you
Speaker 1: lose your insurance, you lose your income. Let me put
Speaker 1: the spotlight on this as it relates to someone who
Speaker 1: is living with diabetes. The person living with diabetes already
Speaker 1: has medical expenses that are two point three times more
Speaker 1: than a person who does not have diabetes. We already
Speaker 1: know that the lots of data out there that says
Speaker 1: people who don't have insurance have horror health outcomes. And
Speaker 1: then now we have that if you have diabetes or
Speaker 1: an underlying condition, the likelihood of COVID nineteen leading to
Speaker 1: bad worth outcomes and or death. All of this now
Speaker 1: has just gotten um, you know, exponential. And so what
Speaker 1: you have, Carol, now is the people who need help
Speaker 1: the most are not getting the help. And if you
Speaker 1: don't have health insurance and you don't have income, you
Speaker 1: can't get the medical medication that you need. If you
Speaker 1: don't have health insurance, you will not go to the
Speaker 1: doctor to care for your your body, which means you
Speaker 1: can get sick and sick er and then end up
Speaker 1: in the very hospital system that is already exploding right now.
Speaker 1: It's a bad, bad scenario, right It's a cycle that
Speaker 1: just continues going down. So Tracy, talk to us about
Speaker 1: what you are pitching lawmakers regulators onto a aviate some
Speaker 1: of these problems in the short term, and then maybe
Speaker 1: we can talk about some of the more structural issues,
Speaker 1: because I know the cost of insulin and the ability
Speaker 1: to get insulin is a hugely important issue for folks
Speaker 1: with diabetes exactly. So Jason, there there are you know,
Speaker 1: three things that right now we are beating the drum
Speaker 1: very hard on during this COVID nineteen pandemic. The first
Speaker 1: is as you talk about, but the last thing that
Speaker 1: we want is for people not to take their diabetes medication,
Speaker 1: whether that's insulin or the prescription drugs. And so what
Speaker 1: we're asking um both at the federal and the state level,
Speaker 1: is an elimination of all copais for insulin and other
Speaker 1: diabetes prescription drugs. So that's not the end all, be all, Jason,
Speaker 1: but removing as much of the financial burden as we
Speaker 1: can so that people do not skip or rations their
Speaker 1: medication right now is what we're going for. So that's one. Two,
Speaker 1: we've talked about the need for continuity of health insurance coverage.
Speaker 1: It's a huge so we are actually uh speaking and
Speaker 1: advocating very hard to say, Look, if Americans with diabetes
Speaker 1: lose their jobs during the wake of this pandemic, we
Speaker 1: want to make sure that they don't lose their health
Speaker 1: insurance coverage and so that there is continuity of coverage
Speaker 1: so that they can still get the care that they need.
Speaker 1: And then the third thing, Jason, as look the numbers
Speaker 1: with COVID nineteen cases still continue to rise. We know
Speaker 1: the economic pressures and that states are looking at reopening.
Speaker 1: We have to have not only more testing, Jason, but
Speaker 1: the testing has to get to the communities and the
Speaker 1: people who are most at it and need it. So
Speaker 1: we we are advocating very hard not just more tests
Speaker 1: any or everywhere. Well, let's get the test to the
Speaker 1: community that now that's not happening, Tracy, and I will
Speaker 1: stay within my family, like I know a couple of
Speaker 1: people who have diabetes. I will say also, I think
Speaker 1: once we get through this, and you're right, we need
Speaker 1: to make sure that those who have diabetes are getting
Speaker 1: their treatments. It's crucial. But I do also wonder take
Speaker 1: several steps back. We've got to figure out how to
Speaker 1: get diabetes under control and I'm a big proponent, Jason.
Speaker 1: I talked about it a lot with guests on our show.
Speaker 1: You know, doctors and you know people from the medical
Speaker 1: community about really focusing and this is a shift for healthcare,
Speaker 1: is focusing on wellness. And maybe this is something where
Speaker 1: telemedicine can help us in the future because it makes
Speaker 1: it easier for everybody to reach out potentially to the
Speaker 1: medical community. But you know that we have such high
Speaker 1: numbers in the United States globally when it comes to diabetes.
Speaker 1: We've got to figure out how to roll back those numbers,
Speaker 1: I mean, and so I'm curious about your efforts along
Speaker 1: those lines, Carol, like you equiitness said that better than myself. Listen, Um,
Speaker 1: this was a The diabetes is an epidemic that existed
Speaker 1: before this pandemic existed. And here's what we know. Eight
Speaker 1: five of people are walking around this country and they
Speaker 1: don't even know that they actually have pre diabetes. And
Speaker 1: I told you one out of two people have pre
Speaker 1: diabetes or diabetes. What we have to start with is
Speaker 1: driving awareness and so we we we are trying to
Speaker 1: drive home a simple notion, Uh, Carol, every time people
Speaker 1: go to the doctors, you get your blood pressure checked.
Speaker 1: It's just like clothwork. That is not the same for
Speaker 1: your A one C. So I don't you know. I
Speaker 1: didn't even ask you. Do you even know what your
Speaker 1: A one C is? Right? This should be a stand
Speaker 1: your eyes, very standardized check that happens every single time
Speaker 1: that someone goes to a doctor, a planic, healthfare or whatever.
Speaker 1: Because it starts with knowing. Then once you know where
Speaker 1: you are with diabetes or free diabetes. This is the
Speaker 1: thing that unnerves me. There is a lot of things
Speaker 1: that you can do to help manage your diabetes, and
Speaker 1: here here are the four things Carol one. You have
Speaker 1: to be mindful of what you're eating. You have to
Speaker 1: be mindful of how you're moving your exercise, you must
Speaker 1: manage how you're sweeping, and you must manage your stress.
Speaker 1: All of these things cause havoc to your blood bluecoatter,
Speaker 1: your blood sugar if not managed. So that's type you
Speaker 1: know for a type to someone living with type two diabetes.
Speaker 1: If you can do those things, you can start to
Speaker 1: get your diabetes under control. Those who live with type one,
Speaker 1: which is an autoimmune disease, listen, this is where insulent
Speaker 1: affordability becomes a musk, because we don't want people who
Speaker 1: need influence to live choosing do I pay my rent
Speaker 1: or do I get my influence? Do I put food
Speaker 1: on my table or do I get my influence? So
Speaker 1: that's the other thing that we're fighting for to uh, Carol.
Speaker 1: But you're right, like we need to control the things
Speaker 1: that we can control, but it all starts with knowing, right, So, Tracy,
Speaker 1: I do wonder given your background, you've had some big
Speaker 1: corporate positions. You were the senior vice president operations and
Speaker 1: the chief experience officer at Sam's Club part of Walmart.
Speaker 1: Is our listeners very well known being the savvy business
Speaker 1: audience they are, Where does the responsibility lie and where
Speaker 1: do you see the most effort on that side, on
Speaker 1: the wellness side, especially between the government and companies. I mean,
Speaker 1: I know, you know, we're very fortunate to work for
Speaker 1: a company that puts that front and center, but I
Speaker 1: know we can't say that for all companies. What do
Speaker 1: you hear from the corporate side, especially at this time
Speaker 1: when people are going to have to start to be
Speaker 1: much more worried about the self health and safety of employees. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, Jason, I think the responsibility all of us
Speaker 1: bear some responsibility in this entire eco ecosystem, from federal
Speaker 1: UH government, to corporate government, to state, local community to
Speaker 1: uh you know, even the insulin manufacturers, the drug manufacturers,
Speaker 1: the retailers, pharmacies, everyone including the individual we all own
Speaker 1: a piece of this responsibility. And just to view, as
Speaker 1: you said, when I am talking to corporations and and
Speaker 1: and again someone who spent a lot of time at Walmart, Um,
Speaker 1: these corporations care about their employees. At least I know
Speaker 1: for our fact Walmart does, and they want healthy employees.
Speaker 1: But if you didn't care just about the human side
Speaker 1: of this, there's an economic side of it as well. Jason,
Speaker 1: diabetes cost this country three twenty seven billion dollars a year.
Speaker 1: So there's both a human piece of this and an
Speaker 1: economic piece of this. And I think right now, all
Speaker 1: of these corporations they not only have the employees their
Speaker 1: own employees, but the communities in which they're located, right
Speaker 1: and and I and I will, and we're running out
Speaker 1: of time, but I will say to Tracy, I mean,
Speaker 1: you're right, it's economic. I mean in terms of healthier
Speaker 1: food and having access to it, it can be more
Speaker 1: expensive or you have to have the time to prepare it.
Speaker 1: So there are so many things that go into this,
Speaker 1: but I'm so glad we got some time with you.
Speaker 1: Good luck with your efforts. Tracy Brown, President and chief
Speaker 1: executive officer at the American Diabetes Association, joining us on
Speaker 1: the phone from Arlington, Virginia. I have to say when
Speaker 1: we talk about health crisis, and of course nothing compares
Speaker 1: to I think what we're going through, but I do
Speaker 1: feel like diabetes is another one, Jason, that we've got
Speaker 1: to figure out absolutely, Oh yeah, for sure. And I
Speaker 1: mean and the numbers that Tracy laid out are staggering
Speaker 1: and a good reminder not just about people, um you know,
Speaker 1: living with diabetes, but people living with pre diabetes, which
Speaker 1: obviously gets into a lot of those sort of underlying
Speaker 1: health issues which that you mentioned. Yeah, it's a big deal.