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Wisconsin Diabetes Action Plan Survey

The Wisconsin Diabetes Action Plan Survey was created as a way for the public to let the Wisconsin Department of Health Services know what they would like to see prioritized in the Wisconsin Diabetes Action Plan, and what challenges those living with diabetes or caring for someone with diabetes face day to day.

2022 survey highlights

The 2022 Wisconsin Diabetes Action Plan Survey was available online in English, Hmong, and Spanish from September to December 2022. We used social media posts, email alerts, Chronic Disease Prevention Program Webinars, and support from community organizations to promote the survey. We received over 500 responses, with 52% of respondents either living with, or caring for, someone with diabetes. Other survey respondents included community members interested in diabetes, community-based service providers, health care providers, educators, researchers, and government employees.

We asked respondents to vote on what they thought the priorities of the next Diabetes Action Plan should be. We also asked people living with diabetes what their biggest challenges were.

Close up of hands typing on a laptop

These are the top three priorities identified by survey respondents. Below each priority are quotes from people living with diabetes about the challenges they face.

Priority one: make insulin affordable and accessible for all who need it

  • "The cost of insulin, even with insurance, can be overwhelming."
  • "[Insulin is] expensive. Cheap to make, way too expensive to buy."
  • "The cost of insulin even with insurance can be very overwhelming."
  • "Insulin was...patented and sold with the idea to help save people's lives and give them a life to live for only $3...it's astonishing to look at the [financial] crisis we are in."

Priority two: policy changes to address medical costs for people living with diabetes

  • "The cost of insulin, of routine medical appointments, of everything else that...it's absolutely astonishing...I have been a type 1 diabetic for over 10 years and I can count on more than one hand the amount of times that I have had to give up other things in my life, pay other bills late, continue to battle collection companies, and even ration my own medication."
  • "The cost of the [diabetes medications] are astronomical."
  • "Diabetes is an almost impossible disease to pay for, it's so expensive. And if you don't take care of it properly...you die. There is no way out."
  • "Because of the financial strain [diabetes] causes, I can't afford to take care of myself as well as I wish I could."
  • "It would be great to make the blood sugar testing kits and supplies more affordable. It would be easier to manage how different foods effect your blood sugar if everyone could have an affordable continuous meter."

Priority three: access to affordable and adequate diabetes care

  • "Systems need to be more available and affordable to improve diabetes control."
  • "I cannot afford diabetes counseling...I am doing the best I can, but could really use some support."
  • "I can't afford to get medical help for my diabetes."
  • "[We] should have community efforts to have free access to classes on food preparation, exercise, etc."
  • "[We have] unequal access to safe...spaces to get physical activity, unequal access to information about health maintenance, unequal access to healthy food choices."

Glossary

 
Last revised October 18, 2023