Medical insurance is becoming more and more difficult to obtain. If you are trying to cover yourself and your family, premiums are extremely expensive, sometimes eating up at least a week’s worth of wages. The conditions that are not benefits or are minimally covered benefits are becoming more numerous while the conditions that are considered essential coverage by a large portion of people are becoming scarce. In addition, a great number of people simply cannot pay the required premiums since they have increased so dramatically, so those people are exposed to health situations that require expensive treatment.
The latest, on the long list of deleted services are medications for migraine headaches. In the past, migraines were traditionally treated with the pain killers, muscle relaxants and sedatives usually used for other conditions. Focus was on the symptoms and not the cause.
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.
Sometimes, patients are told by their medical insurance companies that they are only allowed to obtain a certain number of capsules, which means the patients have to select which headaches require treatment, when in reality they need to be treating all of their migraines equally. When a patient has more migraines than capsules, he or she must cover any extra costs themselves, as the insurance company has already paid its limit. This extra cost is usually a great deal more than many patients can pay, and as a result, they keep on having pain even when they always make their insurance payments. Migraines can indicate more serious health concerns. Sometimes, they can trigger strokes. If a person is unable to consume their medication, a stroke could occur.
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.
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.
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, Insurance, migraine