A new study released last month by Novo Nordisk A/S, the Danish pharmaceutical company, puts the total cost of diabetes in the United States at $218 Billion. That figure includes direct medical costs for insulin and pills for controlling patient’s blood sugar to amputations and hospitalizations, plus indirect costs such as lost productivity, disability, and early retirement.

A study by the Lewin Group consultants estimates costs to society for people known to have Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes at $174.4 billion combined.

Among people known to have diabetes, the new study estimated $10.5 billion in medical costs and $4.4 billion in indirect costs or a total of $14.9 billion for people with Type 1 diabetes. Nearly 6 percent of the 17.5 million Americans diagnosed with diabetes have Type 1.

The study estimated $105.7 billion in medical costs and $53.8 billion in indirect costs, totaling $159.5 billion for people with Type 2 diabetes.

The new study estimates costs for people who have not been diagnosed yet ($18 billion) women who develop diabetes temporarily during pregnancy ($636 million) and those on track to develop diabetes, an increasingly common condition called pre-diabetes ($25 billion).

-drhinkes