Everyone is starting to find it harder to buy health insurance coverage for themselves. If you are looking for family coverage (which includes coverage for wife and children), the premiums are so high that you’re usually looking at more than a week’s worth of pay for their cost. As list of medical conditions that are “not covered/just barely covered” continues to increase, the other side of the list – which is what most of us consider needed health coverage – goes down. When you combine that reality with how many people are unable to pay the overpriced premiums each month, you begin to realize why many could end up being in danger of having a lot of medical conditions that could require treatment.
Migraine headaches are one such condition that have recently fallen victim to insurance constraints. In the past, migraines were not medically understood, and as a result were cared for with a multitude of pain medicine, tranquilizers and relaxants.
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.
This kind of insurance situation puts people who deal with migraines on a regular basis with a limited amount of pills each month (i.e. 10-12), and then they have to decide which one of their migraines they’ll use one of the pills for, when this is medication they should be taking whenever they have a migraine. Insurance doesn’t cover them if all the pills are used before the end of the month, so the expense to reorder more pills becomes theirs alone. These migraine sufferers will continue to pay their premiums, but due to the skyrocketed prices of many of these medications, many are unable to pay for them out of their own pocket, so they just suffer through. It has been found that migraines can often be signs of other unknown health issues. Some of these quickly end up in a stroke. And what are the results of this occurs on a night when they felt they couldn’t, or just didn’t, take the medication?
Medicaid is one such possibility applied for by increasing numbers of people every month. But of course, as with all government sponsored programs, Medicaid is highly regulated, difficult to qualify for financially and mired in endless paperwork and bureaucracy. Income restrictions are strict and closely monitored. The government will also periodically review your case and all appointments must be met and phone calls returned promptly or your benefits could be canceled immediately without notice.
America is the richest country in the world. It is shameful that a country with so much to offer cannot guarantee access to much needed medications for its citizens. Migraine sufferers may be fated to be the latest victims of health insurance limitations. But for just how long, remains to be seen. Health care is now a priority in our new congress but many questions remain. We will be waiting for the answers.
To Learn More About Various Types of Migraines and to Learn Migraine Health Insurance Options, Visit the Migraine Headache Guide at Migraines-Headaches.org.
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