More than 86 million people, including 22 million people 65 or older, have pre-diabetes, which increases their risk of heart disease, strokes or diabetes. As we've watched that number grow, it has somehow felt that despite billions of dollars of research and intervention, there's little we can do. That feeling shifted recently when Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the secretary of health and human services, announced that Medicare was planning to pay for lifestyle interventions focusing on diet and physical activity to prevent Type 2 diabetes. It's an example of small-scale research efforts into health services that have worked and that have expanded to reach more people. That's the topic of this week's Healthcare Triage. This was adapted from a column Aaron wrote for the Upshot. References and links to further reading can be found there: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/31/upshot/the-unsung-success-of-a-diabetes-prevention-program.html John Green -- Executive Producer Stan Muller -- Director, Producer Aaron Carroll -- Writer Mark Olsen -- Graphics http://www.twitter.com/aaronecarroll http://www.twitter.com/crashcoursestan http://www.twitter.com/johngreen http://www.twitter.com/olsenvideo And the housekeeping: 1) You can support Healthcare Triage on Patreon: http://vid.io/xqXr Every little bit helps make the show better! 2) Check out our Facebook page: http://goo.gl/LnOq5z 3) We still have merchandise available at http://www.hctmerch.com