May 17, 2016
A re-elected Coalition Government will subsidise the cost of Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) technology for children and young adults under 21 years old facing extra challenges managing their Type 1 diabetes.
Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester said the Coalition’s commitment was estimated to benefit 4000 children, and could save the average family up to $4000 per year managing their child’s Type 1 diabetes.
“The CGM device capitalises on new technologies to reduce the need for ‘finger prick’ blood tests,” Mr Chester said.
“It can report blood sugar levels to an insulin pump or a pocket device.
“At present this costs around $90 a week for families on top of other medical expenses and I’m pleased that the Coalition Government, if re-elected, will support these families and subsidise the ongoing costs.”
Mr Chester said the CGM technology assisted families and children to self-manage their diabetes.
“Most importantly, it will help reduce stress and anxiety for children and their parents, and even save lives,” Mr Chester said.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease attacking a person’s ability to produce insulin, for which there is no cure.
This means Australians with Type 1 diabetes are required to draw blood via a ‘finger-prick’ multiple times a day to monitor their glucose levels.
Without regular monitoring, they risk both short and long term complications including injury, lasting damage or even death.
While the finger-prick method is a very effective and accurate monitoring tool, drawing blood at regular intervals every day can be a very difficult, stressful and upsetting task for children and their parents.
This can include waking children in the middle of the night and monitoring them during the school day.
Regular monitoring is even more essential where certain children are unable to feel when their blood sugar levels are falling and they are heading towards a hypoglycaemic episode.
Subsidising CGM will help these children and their parents monitor their blood sugar levels around the clock through a small, wearable device that will instantly warn them if glucose levels are getting too low without the need to continually draw blood through a finger prick.
A re-elected Coalition Government will take immediate action to subsidise CGM devices on the National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS) for these estimated 4000 children and young adults under 21 who face extra challenges managing their Type 1 diabetes.