Lack of Affordable Health Insurance Causes More Headaches for Migraine Patients

At times, some people minimize the necessity offound that emergency rooms, where uninsured
health insurance. Can't people just visit thepatients tend to receive their care, are five times
hospital, regardless of their ability to pay?as likely to offer worse treatment of migraines.
Emergency rooms are required to admit allThat leads to the disparity of uninsured migraine
comers.patients being twice as likely to receive worse
While that is true, emergency rooms are not idealtreatment.
for treating chronic conditions. By the time peopleWhy do uninsured patients have worse
get there, they are often in dire straits. Treatingoutcomes? Emergency rooms do their best to
them often ends up being more expensive andtreat the acute condition, giving a prescription for
less effective at that point, since their health hasa narcotic that alleviates immediate symptoms.
worsened.However, they do not typically prescribe the
Migraine sufferers are a case in point. Their issuescorrect drugs found to decrease the chance of
go beyond simple headaches; the throbbing painfuture moderate to severe headaches, such as
can negatively impact their daily lives to a severeDHE (dihydroergotamine). A primary care
degree. As it turns out, hospital emergencyphysician is more likely to have a steady
rooms are more likely to provide substandardrelationship with a patient, and better able to help
care for migraines. They are simply not equippedhim or her manage their condition.
for such purposes. Patients with affordable healthThe authors of the study believe that up to 5.5
insurance are more likely to visit doctors ormillion patients will be assisted by a quality health
hospital outpatient departments.insurance plan that covers severe migraine
The study from the Cambridge Health Alliancetreatment.