It is getting more difficult for most people to buy health insurance. The rising cost of insurance premiums are already beyond the means of many individuals to pay. Families with children have it even worse. Insurance formularies are under constant revision as more and more medications are removed or reclassified to cost more. Maintenance medications are periodically eliminated leaving the patient to buy more expensive alternatives. Most consumers cannot pay the monthly premiums which leads them to purchase the bare minimum of coverage which may not address what conditions they already have or new ones which may develop later on.
Migraine headaches are the most recent fatality to come from limitations set by the insurance companies. In the past these incapacitating headaches created a learning experience for the medical profession as treatment ranged from tranquilizers, muscle relaxers, and a variety of pain killers.
Other compounds, developed during the past two decades, were designed for use as migraine medicines. They were administered alone or with other medications for pain or other conditions. Recently, however, a number of compounds approved by the FDA and targeted exclusively to migraine headaches have been marketed and can be purchased by migraine sufferers. Not just in the U.S. Unfortunately, the price of these new medications far exceed the average person’s ability to pay for them. Insurance strictly limits the patient’s access to these medications by limiting quantity or coverage.
Medications developed specifically for migraines, and meant to be taken with every migraine, are often doled out in amounts of 8 to 12 pills monthly. This leaves the patient with the task of determining which migraines they can medicate and which they must suffer through to conserve medication. Insurance will not pay for early refills and so the patient must pay the lion’s share of the exorbitant cost. Even when a patient is up to date on their insurance premium payments, they often can not make use of that insurance to purchase the medications they really need. Migraine headaches can signal other health conditions. They have been linked to stroke. Are there other options for those who cannot afford the cost of medication?
For people in that position, like a friend of mine who isn’t able to afford insurance, there’s the possibility of Medicaid. Medicaid is available providing you are willing to wade through all the paperwork, can meet the income limitations, are able to find a way of getting approval, and then you’ll have coverage for help on costs of prescriptions and seeing a doctor. If you make it through the initial requirements, you still have to stay alert because you could lose your coverage in a heartbeat for not calling Medicaid on something or not sending in a correct form or paperwork.
Ironically, at a time when there exist medications that can treat migraines, insurance businesses are basically withholding these remedies by imposing financial or other restrictions upon the patients. Migraine patients could simply be victims of the most recent condition restricted by insurance, but is a solution available to assist them in obtaining the remedy they require? The current presidential administration is taking this and other concerns under consideration. With any luck, some solutions will be forthcoming.
Get details on the different Types of Migraine Headaches and to Learn Insurance and Migraine Options, Visit the Migraine Headache Guide at Migraines-Headaches.org.
Tags: headache, health insurance, migraine