Diabetes was the sixth leading cause of death in the US in 2004 and is among the top 10 most expensive medical conditions on the country. Although more than one in seven diabetics in America rely on the Medicaid program for their health coverage, little is known about who they are or what the program spends on their behalf. This brief provides a first look at what Medicaid spends on the nearly 2 million enrollees with diabetes. Included among the findings is that the six percent of enrollees with diabetes accounted for 16 percent of total Medicaid spending.

 Issue Brief (.pdf)