INNOVATIVE MUNICIPAL HEALTH PLAN IN ASHEVILLE

Today's NYTimes profiles a ten-year-old municipal-worker health plan in Asheville that covers 450 city employees for diabetes prevention:

...the city of Asheville has given free diabetes medicines and supplies to municipal workers who have the disease if they agree to monthly counseling from specially trained pharmacists. The results, city officials say, have been dramatic: Within months of enrolling in the program, almost twice as many have their blood sugar levels under control. In addition, the city's health plan has saved more than $2,000 in medical costs per patient each year.

Diabetes is the bane of the Krispy Kreme-loving South, but the Asheville experiment in counseling and preventative care is being copied all across the country.

Way to go, you bunch of ever-lovin' hippies!