The findings were published in a recent issue of Nature. The plan also promotes competitive bidding for medical equipment services. President Clinton's proposal does not extend far enough to save the Medicare home health benefit and would further deny beneficiary choice of provider with the inclusion of a national competitive bidding proposal. Continued one-year delays of the scheduled 15 percent reduction further destabilized providers and makes it difficult to prepare for the prospective payment system scheduled for Oct. 1, 2000. This instability is impairing home health providers' ability to provide Medicare beneficiaries access to quality home health services.
Many patients continue, therefore, to experience needless pain and disability.
The study, underwritten by a grant from Glaxo Wellcome Inc., examines the burden of migraine and the state of migraine care over the past decade, showing that the majority of patients report severe disability and the need for bedrest due to an inability to control their headache pain and associated migraine symptoms. Forty-eight percent of sufferers diagnosed by a physician indicated that they suffer to a similar degree as those who have never had their migraines diagnosed, demonstrating that effective control of migraine is dependent not only on diagnosis but on the treatment received in the physician's care. Survey participants answered questions about diagnosis, treatment history and the impact of migraine on their lives. The data shows that one in every four U.S. households, or 13 percent of the American population, has a migraine sufferer. Chocolate is good for you.