They end up in the hospital twice as many days and are given almost three times as many prescriptions. Better preventive care is needed, says Dr. Bill Morgan of the Arizona Asthma and Allergy Institute.
Problem is, insurance companies most often pay the bills, and so decide who gets what care.
On average, Morgan says, patients are with a plan for two years, not long enough for much concern about preventive care and a patient's long-term prognosis. Let the catastrophe be the next insurance plan's problem. Some health plans are better than others. Cigna Healthcare of Arizona has let doctors decide who gets what medicine and when to go to a specialist since 1998, an approach hailed last year by the Disease Management Association of America. Cigna has had asthma guidelines since 1986.