Cost is always a factor.
Children on Medicaid, for example, are less likely to see an asthma specialist and generally receive poorer care compared to young patients who have other forms of insurance, two new studies charge. There is also difficulty in getting kids to do anything adults tell them to, let alone take a medication that doesn't seem to have an immediate effect. Despite reassurances that inhaled steroids are safer than their pill counterpart, many parents are worried that steroids may stunt their child's growth. But if they really understand how the medications worked and what the side effects really are, they may be more willing to use the medication. The fears were supposed to be to laid to rest by two major studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine last October.