Nearly 24 million Americans now have diabetes, according to government statistics.
Rising levels of obesity mean the situation is only going to get worse, as the disease is already taking a big financial toll. Research in the Archives of Internal Medicine shows diabetics nearly doubled their spending on drugs for the disease in just six years.
In part, the sharp increase is due to the way diabetes is treated. Patients are given newer, more expensive drugs, and they're also treated with multiple medications.
The report points out there is a lack of strong evidence the newer more expensive medication works any better than older, cheaper drugs.
