Earlier today our team was pleased
to send an email out to all JDRF Advocates to share some breaking news related
to one possible pathway for a Special Diabetes Program (SDP) renewal. In case
you missed the email, we’ll share the details here with you now. And as always,
be among the first to hear about important developments in funding T1D research
by signing up to be a
JDRF advocate.

This Thursday, the U.S. Senate
Finance Committee will mark up a bill that would permanently address the
reimbursement rates for doctors who treat Medicare patients. The bill will
include the renewal of other programs, including a five-year extension of the
Special Diabetes Program at the current funding level of $150 million.

We are very grateful to Senate
Finance Committee Chairman Baucus and Ranking Member Hatch for their leadership
in advancing this proposal. We are also very grateful to Senators Collins (ME)
and Shaheen (NH), and Representatives Whitfield (KY), DeGette (CO), Reed (NY)
and Becerra (CA) for their leadership on SDP support letters to their
respective leaders that were signed by a total of 76
Senators and 337
Representatives. We also
appreciate all of the great work by you and JDRF volunteers across the country,
which helped build broad bipartisan support for the SDP renewal. Thank you!!

While this week’s action is good
news, much hard work and uncertainty lies ahead. Thursday’s markup will not
include the program cuts needed to pay for the overall cost of the proposal
(expected to be at least $150 billion), which as I’m sure you understand will
be difficult for Congress to locate. Many legislative scenarios are still possible
in December and early next year. We greatly appreciate your dedication to our
cause! Please keep up your work on the Promise Campaign and we will be back in touch immediately if additional
advocacy actions are needed.

Don’t forget to sign-up to be a
JDRF Advocate and be the first to receive
important real-time updates like the one we sent out earlier today. Thank you
again for all you do for us, but remember, our work isn’t done, so please stay
tuned for where you can help next.

All the best,

The JDRF Advocacy Team