I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3124 
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to reduce the occurrence 
of diabetes in Medicare beneficiaries by extending coverage under Medi-
care for medical nutrition therapy services to such beneficiaries with 
pre-diabetes or with risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 29, 2017 
Ms. DEGETTE (for herself, Ms. JENKINS of Kansas, Mr. REED, Ms. 
DELBENE, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. BEN RAY LUJA´N of New 
Mexico, Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. NOLAN, 
Ms. NORTON, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mr. SMITH of 
New Jersey, Mr. MCGOVERN, and Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for 
a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to reduce 
the occurrence of diabetes in Medicare beneficiaries by 
extending coverage under Medicare for medical nutrition 
therapy services to such beneficiaries with pre-diabetes 
or with risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preventing Diabetes 
in Medicare Act of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) According to the Centers for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention, there are 86,000,000 adults 
with pre-diabetes in the United States. The Centers 
estimates that 51 percent of adults who are 65 years 
of age or older have pre-diabetes. More than 90 per-
cent of adults with pre-diabetes are unaware they 
have it. 
(2) For a significant number of people with 
pre-diabetes, early intervention can reverse elevated 
blood glucose levels to normal range and prevent di-
abetes and its complications completely or can sig-
nificantly delay its onset. According to the Institute 
for Alternative Futures, if 50 percent of adults with 
pre-diabetes were able to successfully make lifestyle 
changes proven to prevent or delay diabetes, then by 
2025 approximately 4,700,000 new cases of diabetes 
could be prevented at a cost savings of $300 billion. 
(3) Nearly 1-in-5 hospitalizations in 2008 were 
related to diabetes according to the Agency for 
Healthcare Research and Quality. 
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(4) Preventing diabetes and its complications 
can save money and lives. The average annual cost 
to treat someone with diabetes is $13,741, compared 
to $3,495 for someone who does not have diabetes. 
One out of every three Medicare dollars is spent on 
diabetes. 
(5) Diabetes is unique because its complications 
and their associated health care costs are often pre-
ventable with currently available medical treatment 
and lifestyle changes. 
(6) In 2002, the Diabetes Prevention Program 
study conducted by the National Institutes of Health 
found that participants (all of whom were at in-
creased risk of developing type 2 diabetes) who made 
lifestyle changes reduced their risk of developing 
type 2 diabetes by 58 percent and that participants 
who are 60 years of age or older reduced their risk 
of developing diabetes by 71 percent. 
(7) The Agency for Healthcare Research and 
Quality has demonstrated that $2,500,000,000 in 
hospitalization costs related to the treatment of dia-
betes or complications resulting from diabetes could 
be saved by providing seniors with appropriate pri-
mary care to prevent the onset of diabetes. 
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(8) The Medicare program currently provides 
coverage for screening and identifying beneficiaries 
with pre-diabetes but does not provide adequate 
services to such beneficiaries to help them prevent or 
delay the onset of diabetes. 
SEC. 3. MEDICARE COVERAGE OF MEDICAL NUTRITION 
THERAPY SERVICES FOR PEOPLE WITH PRE- 
DIABETES AND RISK FACTORS FOR DEVEL-
OPING TYPE 2 DIABETES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1861 of the Social Secu-
rity Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (s)(2)(V), by striking ‘‘a bene-
ficiary with diabetes or a renal disease’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘an individual with diabetes, pre-diabetes (as de-
fined in subsection (yy)(4)), or a renal disease, or an 
individual at risk for diabetes (as defined in sub-
section (yy)(2)),’’ in the matter preceding clause (i); 
and 
(2) in subsection (yy)— 
(A) in the heading, by adding ‘‘; Pre-Dia-
betes’’ at the end; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(4) The term ‘pre-diabetes’ means a condition of im-
paired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance identi-
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fied by a blood glucose level that is higher than normal, 
but not so high as to indicate actual diabetes.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply with respect to services furnished 
on or after January 1, 2019. 
Æ 
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