Diabetes-Related Financial Coverage

Does Medicare cover diabetes-related medical expenses?

Medicare covers supplies for people with diabetes, whether or not they use insulin. These include glucose testing monitors, blood glucose test strips, lancet devices and lancets, and glucose control solutions. There may be some limits on supplies or how often you get them. Medicare also covers the cost of therapeutic shoes, self-management training, nutrition counseling, flu and pneumococcal pneumonia shots, and glaucoma screening for people with diabetes.

For more information, see Medicare Coverage of Diabetes Related Supplies and Services at the Medicare Web site.

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Managing Diabetes in the Heat

How to keep your cool during the hottest time of year.

Did you know that people who have diabetes—both type 1 and type 2—feel the heat more than people who don't have diabetes? Some reasons why:

• Certain diabetes complications, such as damage to blood vessels and nerves, can affect your sweat glands so your body can't cool as effectively. That can lead to heat exhaustion and heat stroke, which is a medical emergency.
• People with diabetes get dehydrated (lose too much water from their bodies) more quickly. Not drinking enough liquids can raise blood sugar, and high blood sugar can make you urinate more, causing dehydration. Some commonly used medicines like diuretics ("water pills" to treat high blood pressure) can dehydrate you, too.
• High temperatures can change how your body uses insulin. You may need to test your blood sugar more often and adjust your insulin dose and what you eat and drink.

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Cancer and Men

Cancer and Men

Every year, more than 300,000 men in the United States lose their lives to cancer. You can lower your cancer risk in several ways.

What You Can Do

Don’t smoke, and avoid secondhand smoke. More men in the United States die from lung cancer than any other type of cancer, and cigarette smoking causes most cases.

If you’re 50 or older, get screened for colorectal cancer. Screening tests can help prevent colorectal cancer or find it early, when treatment works best.

Protect your skin from the sun. Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States. Most cases of melanoma, the deadliest kind of skin cancer, are caused by exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun and tanning devices, but fewer than 15% of men use sunscreen regularly when outside for more than an hour. When you’re outside, follow our easy sun safety tips for men.

Stay active and keep a healthy weight. Adopting a lifestyle that includes healthy eating and regular physical activity can help lower your risk for several kinds of cancer.

Fast Facts About Cancer and Men

The most common kinds of cancer among men in the U.S. are skin cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, and colorectal cancer.

Most prostate cancers grow slowly, and don’t cause any health problems in men who have them. Treatment can cause serious side effects. Talk to your doctor before you decide to get tested or treated for prostate cancer.

A human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is recommended routinely for boys at 11 or 12 years of age to prevent anal cancer and genital warts. The vaccine also is recommended for all teenage boys and men through age 21, any man who has sex with men through age 26, and men with compromised immune systems (including HIV) through age 26, if they did not receive all three doses of the vaccine when they were younger.