Where are you getting this information? Did your doctor tell you that insurance companies will no longer pay if you go to a place with the word "headache" in it? Or did you call and ask the insurance company and they explained that to you?

There are plenty of "Headache centers" around here that are not changing their names, and insurance is still paying for them. Perhaps the place you are going to wanted to broaden the scope of disorders they want to treat beyond headaches, hence the name change to "neurology center".

The Dr told me and I talked with the insurance co. As well. It's a technicality basically. More and more centers will be closing if they are solely "Headache Clinics". I didn't understand a lot of the insurance person, partly deep southern accent Lol and part just the jargon. I'm in Washington State, I don't know about other states affected yet, although medicare said " more and more will be closing or having to change their parameters". They said it was not just medicare too. That most insurances do not consider Headaches in and of themselves ( and therefore the Headache clinics) to be a true independent condition. But if it's under Neurology or neurological disorder then it is recognized and covered.
It's all very confusing. I mean they covered it so far right? So suddenly they don't want to?
I just wanted to warn people about the possibility that clinics like mine could be.closing. I hope yours doesn't! Or like mine, just changes names and keeps on truckin!!
Wishing you all pain free days or at least pain free moments.
Blessed be to all

Maybe that is just your state, because insurance does recognize and pay for headache treatment. If they didn't, insurance would not cover botox for chronic migraine, but they do. There are commercials for it. If they didn't cover headaches, people would NEVER be get disability for chronic migraines, but they do. Plus, it's not a matter of what they call themselves, it's a coding issue. Sure, they could change a name, but they would still have to bill for headache treatment. So I wouldn't worry too much. Headache centers are not going to suddenly start closing around this country.

So I did a lot more digging. It seems the clinics are closing due to insurances not wanting to pay based the new codes. It's the new HITECH act which is part of the Affordable Care Act. It affects mostly medicare and Medicaid patients.Doctors have to do everything electronically which doesn't sound like much, but it seems it does effect time spent on billing and time with patients. Also Medicare/Medicaid plus some insurance companies are paying less and less to Headache specialist because Headaches, not Migraines, but chronic headaches are not recognized as a true medical condition. Even Migraine must be diagnosed by a neurologist in some cases to be fully covered.
So it is still very confusing. From what I gather it is insurance not wanting to pay what Drs bill. Let's face it, that's not a new issue. But Headache.clinics seem to be getting hit really hard about it.
I am going to keep researching this and will post when I find more!
Wishing everyone pain free days or at least pain free moments.

I think that's not entirely correct either. The affordable care act didn't do much to medicare, but it did really mess up medicaid. Individual states had to expand their medicaid rolls. That's how they got the uninsured, insured. The ACA put people on medicaid. Some doctors and hospitals decided to accept the ACA insurances, but not all did. I would assume that it is those that chose to accept those insurances who are feeling the pinch now. They basically get paid nothing with those insurances.

There were hospitals and doctors, who, from the beginning of this whole mess who refused to accept anyone who had insurance through the ACA, and they are doing fine. My headache specialist had asked me if I was getting insurance through the exchange. He was worried because Jefferson does not, nor will they accept those insurances. There are many big name hospitals that are just like Jefferson, they will not take those insurances.

This is a discussion that happens all the time in the chronic pain support group. People who finally have insurance now through the ACA, but no doctors or hospital accepts it. It's really a sad situation.