If headaches aren't caused by another health problem, treatment focuses on preventive medication. For chronic migraines, for example, tricyclic antidepressants (Amitriptyline) may help prevent future migraines.
In many ways, Kaiser has been ahead of the curve on health care for decades. Started by a surgeon running a tiny hospital near Desert Center, Calif., to serve construction workers, Kaiser became an H.M.O. with its own doctors and hospital in the mid-1940s and expanded beyond California over the next 50 years.
Susan Mullaney is the president of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Washington. In this role, she leads the nonprofit health plan, providing high-quality affordable health care to approximately 651,000 members in Northwest, Central and Eastern Washington, Coastal and Olympic regions, and Puget Sound.