Health advocates call for passage of Safe Step Act, two other bills to better treat migraines

Healthcare advocates are urging Congress to pass a trio of bills to better understand and treat migraines.

The first, and most urgently needed bill, is the Safe Step Act which would change common insurance practice called “step therapy” to better treat patients with complex conditions like migraines, according to advocates.

“This is the thing we have been working on the hardest this year, to try to get the Safe Step Act over the finish line before the end of the year,” Julienne Verdi, executive director at the Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy, said during The Hill’s Tuesday event “Closing the Women’s Health Gap: A Spotlight on Migraine.”

“Step therapy” refers to when an insurance company requires a patient to try a less expensive medication before they can receive the more expensive medication their doctor prescribed.

Some insurance companies adopted step therapy practices as a means to control costs, according to Jessica Ailani, director of the MedStar Georgetown Headache Center, who also spoke at the event.

Ailani said that healthcare professionals and advocates argue that bypassing the step therapy process is better for patient treatment and reduces the healthcare resources a patient uses.

“You actually go to the doctor less if you are on good treatment,” said Jessica Ailani, a clinical professor of neurology at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and

Advocates are also urging the passage of the Advancing Research for Chronic Pain Act introduced by Sen. Robert Casey (D-Pa) last year.

Under the bill, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would be required to collect, publish and analyze population health data on chronic pain.

Migraines are a disease state that is “chronically underfunded,” said Verdi. Having clearer data on just how many people suffer from headache disorders will help “move the needle forward” on getting the research funding dollars migraines “so desperately deserve,” she said.

The final bill headache disorder advocates are pushing for is The Connect for Health Act.

The bill would make the telehealth Medicare flexibilities implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic permanent.

Telehealth makes it easier for patients to see their migraine and headache specialists, partly because patients willing to see a doctor remotely often do not have to wait as long for an appointment as those who want to see their physician in person, according to advocates.

“The waiting lists to see these specialists are incredibly long and so anything we can do to expand access to providers who understand the complexity of headache disorders—we’ve got to do it,” said Verdi.

Verdi, who suffers from migraines, spoke about how telehealth allows her to see her physician, especially when symptoms become debilitating.

“It’s very hard for me to drive, it’s probably not safe for me to drive in those moments because I’m having visual disturbances and things like that,” she said.

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