Mullin' It Over: Prevention Is the Key to Staying Healthy
By Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma)
Native Country as a whole is affected by a
higher rate of diabetes than any other population.
The
Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI) was established by Congress in 1997 in order to specifically address the diabetes epidemic in Native Americans. According to the Indian Health Service, more than 780,000 patients are served each year under the program. In 2017, SDPI funding in Oklahoma totaled $23.4 million to support 27 Community-Directed Grant Programs.
Over the years,
SDPI has proven to be highly effective in curbing the rate of diabetes in our native population and reducing potentially costly treatments paid by Medicare later on. It is changing the course of diabetes and helping people live healthier lives.
Rep. Markwayne Mullin
(R-Oklahoma) addresses a reception in honor of Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kansas)
and Rep. Deb Haaland (D-New Mexico) in Washington, D.C., on January 3, 2019.
Photo by Indianz.Com (CC
BY-NC-SA 4.0)
Because of the
success of SDPI, obesity and diabetes rates in Native American youth have not increased in more than 10 years and diabetes rates in Native American adults have not increased since 2011. Diabetic eye disease rates decreased 50 percent, reducing vision loss and blindness.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), diabetes is the cause of kidney failure in approximately two out of every three Native Americans struggling with the disease. Between 1996 and 2013, the rate of kidney failure from diabetes in Native Americans dropped by 54 percent thanks to this program.
Prevention is the key to staying healthy and SDPI has been instrumental in educating people on lifestyle changes and other ways to reduce the risk of diabetes. I am grateful for the men and women who operate SDPI grant programs, and their continued efforts to ensure our native communities receive the preventative care they need to stay healthy.
I recently introduced a bill,
H.R.2680, that would reauthorize the program for five years and increase funding for the program from $150 million to $200 million. Currently, the program is set to expire on September 30, 2019 if action is not taken.
SDPI has proven to be effective and we need to further invest in the program to continue to build on its success.
Markwayne Mullin, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, was
first elected to serve the people of Oklahoma’s Second Congressional District in
November 2012. He is currently serving his fourth term in office. Mullin and his
wife Christie have five children: Jim, Andrew, Larra, Ivy, and Lynette. The
Mullin family currently resides in Westville, Oklahoma, on the same family farm
where Markwayne was raised.
Join the Conversation
