How Expensive is Being Sick: The True Cost of Having Chronic Migraines

 

    Being sick is expensive! This is something that I am much more keenly aware of now that I as an adult pay for all of my own things. The intricacies and frustrations of health insurance and drug availability just adds to this issue as well. Here is the breakdown of the costs from my own experience so far as well as the average cost of the most common treatment chronic migraine sufferers are on.

    *This is NOT a treatment plan recommendation , nor is it necessarily the treatment I am on, just an average snapshot on someone who has the same condition as I do*

    The estimated yearly cost of chronic migraine is between $8500-$9500, (AJMC). This does not include any other comorbidities that chronic migraine patients have, which was mentioned by the AJMC as being much higher on average than people without chronic migraines. I want to look into how accurate this figure is based on my own experience as well as the current treatments out there for chronic migraine.

    Many people, myself included, that are chronic migraine sufferers are often on a daily medication as well as one or more rescue medications. If these are ineffective at making the migraines go away for the most part, there are also monthly medications and treatments as well.

    The most commonly prescribed medication for migraines is amitriptyline (HealthGrades), which has an average cost of about $21.00-$97.00 a month depending on the strength of the medication. This has a yearly cost of about $252.00-$1,164.00 a year (Drugs.com). This is an average price across pharmacies that carry this medication, so depending on insurance this medication can cost more or less.

    The most common migraine PRN is Rizatriptan (HealthGrades). This has an average cost of this medication is about $114.00-$130.00 depending on the strength of the medication (Drugs.com). This cost is for 12 tablets, which would be a reasonable monthly cost given a person with chronic migraines takes this medication only 12 times a month, though depending on how many migraines they get, the cost may double per month. This gives a person an average cost per year of  $1,368.00-$1560.00, given they take this medication no more than 12 times a month, which realistically would be closer to 15 days a month.

    Often, a person with migraines gets prescribed an anti nausea medication due to one of the more common side effects being nausea and vomiting. The average price of this medication is about $122.00-$737.00 depending on the strength and number of medications you receive (Drugs.com). For this purpose, I am going to assume that the person taking this medication will take a Zofran every time they get a migraine, which would be about 15 days worth since chronic migraines happen 15 or more days a month. This cost would be about $368.50 per month, or about $4,422.00 a year.

    If a person's migraines are significant enough, they are also put on a monthly treatment for prevention, which is especially common for chronic migraine. Botox is the more common medication for this purpose (HealthGrades), but since I could not find an average price for this medication, I am going to use the second most common treatment Aimovig. This medication is about $787.00 a month on average (Drugs.com), or about $9,444.00 a year. 

    Adding up all of these monthly costs, the average total for chronic migraines per year is already at about $15,486.00-$16,590.00 a year. This, of course, is not factoring in insurance but merely the average cost of the medications at the pharmacy itself. Nor does this account for emergency trips to the Walk In or ER, doctor's visits, specialist visits, or anything else that a person may have to do to receive these medications and treat their migraines.

    Other factors to think about also are all of the days missed from work that cost a person money, as well as the fact that people with Chronic Migraines are more likely than the genera public to have a comorbid condition (AJMC)- both of which is not accounted for in this post. (Personally, I have two other conditions currently accounted for, and one under investigation currently). This post's purpose is merely to reflect on the true cost of having this condition. Unfortunately, these factors are not often considered by the general public when they consider someone with chronic migraines. This is also proof that this condition can be disabling, both physically and financially, to people just trying to live their life.

-Kat

    I have recently learned that there are actually programs within the United States that helps people pay for the cost of their treatments when dealing with chronic migraine, which I will include below:

• Migraine Cost Help-National Headache Foundation
  
• Health Well Foundation for Covering Costs After Insurance
• Prescription Lifeline- Help With Treatments
• GoodRX Coupons for Medications
• List of 15 different alternatives to GoodRX

Citations:

“Average Cost of Medications.” Drugs.Com, IBM Watson Micromedex, www.drugs.com/mtm/rizatriptan.html. Accessed 10 Nov. 2023.

Michael Polson, PharmD. “Concomitant Medical Conditions and Total Cost of Care in Patients with Migraine: A Real-World Claims Analysis.” AJMC, MJH Life Sciences, www.ajmc.com/view/total-cost-of-care-in-patients-with-migraine-a-realworld-claims-analysis. Accessed 10 Nov. 2023.

Written By Sarah Lewis. “12 Drugs Commonly Prescribed for Migraine.” Healthgrades, 25 Apr. 2023, www.healthgrades.com/right-care/migraine-and-headache/12-drugs-commonly-prescribed-for-migraine.