Right now, 37.3 million Americans have diabetes. That’s more than 11 percent of the US population. As many as 96 million people aged 18 years or older have prediabetes. That’s more than a third of America’s adult population.

That’s alarming all on its own and with November being National Diabetes Awareness Month, we all should pay attention. But look a little closer and a bigger problem jumps out for our community.

You see, while 7.4 percent of White Americans are suffering from diabetes, but in the Black community the rate is more than 12 percent. Black Americans are 60 percent more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes than white. We’re 2.5 times more likely to be hospitalized with diabetes and associated complications and twice as likely to die from diabetes than Whites.

Add to that the recent numbers from the American Diabetes Association and see that, last year alone, diabetes cost the United States $306.6 billion in direct medical costs and $106.3 billion in indirect costs. With $412.9 billion in total cost, that’s more than the gross domestic product of Denmark.

Of course, it’s no secret why this is. Just look at poor minority communities like North Columbia, S.C., where for years the rate of diabetes-related amputations has continued to be among the nation’s highest. 

Look in Black neighborhoods across America where healthcare and good nutrition is neither affordable nor accessible. Look at a recent report from Emory University that unequivocally says that structural racism and geographic inequity are driving the diabetes epidemic here in America and across the globe.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in 2019, non-Hispanic Blacks were twice as likely as non-Hispanic Whites to die from the disease. In 2018, Black adults were 60 percent more likely than non-Hispanic White adults to be diagnosed by a physician with diabetes. Also in 2019, non-Hispanic blacks were 2.5 times more likely to be hospitalized with diabetes and related long-term complications than non-Hispanic Whites.

So this is not just a problem for us, it’s a crisis. But it’s a crisis we can do something about.

When President Biden and congressional Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act, they capped out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35 per month saving seniors an average of $500 each. A big deal to be sure, but we can’t be happy with this accomplishment on its own. We took the first step, now it's time to take the next.

We live in a world where insulin prices in America tripled over the past decade and the insulin cost cap is limited to those older than 65, less than a third of all Americans with diabetes. Furthermore, we know that the cost cap is saving millions of dollars. In fact, the most recent numbers tell us that, if it had been in place in 2020, it would have saved Medicare recipients a combined $761 million.

Let me make that clear: capping the cost for less than a third of diabetes sufferers saved us $761 million. In other words, expanding that cap to all would save us well over $2.2 billion. So it’s time we did.

Eli Lilly, the largest manufacturer of insulin in the United States, has already stepped up announcing in March that they were cutting their prices by 70 percent and capping what patients pay out-of-pocket for insulin at $35.

You see, we know that, if the cost cap for seniors had been in place in 2020, it would have saved Medicare recipients a combined $761 million. Now it’s our turn to act.

It’s not just that excess costs associated with insulin alone is estimated at $15 billion and people with diabetes account for $1 of every $4 spent on healthcare in America. It’s about saving lives along with dollars.

One in four insulin users say cost impacts their insulin use which means that the high cost of insulin is putting millions of American lives at risk every single day. Data from the American Diabetes Association shows that Black Americans with the disease pay the most in direct healthcare expenditures. So Eli Lilly's price cap is a welcome change for Black people, but more must be done."When you consider your monthly's, your expenses for rent and housing and food and on top of that the price for medication, whatever the category is, it's an absolute concern," Dr. Joshua Evans, Medical Director of Primary Care at Loyola University Hospital Outpatient Center told CBS Chicago. 

This isn’t just a concern, it’s a concern that we can and should prevent now.

Antjuan Seawright  is a Democratic political strategist, founder and CEO of Blueprint Strategy LLC, a CBS News political contributor, and a senior visiting fellow at Third Way.