Families, Clinics Work To Gain Insurance Coverage For Eating Disorders

A “growing number of families and patient advocates are fighting” for health insurance coverage of eating disorders, the Wall Street Journal reports. According to the Journal, insurance companies “have been reluctant to pay for extended treatment for eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, claiming they are psychological in nature, not physiological, and should fall under mental health coverage, which is typically limited.” However, families and patient advocates are “encouraged by medical expert opinions that eating disorders, though a mental illness, have a biological component,” the Journal reports. Treatment centers also are working to help families find ways to cover costs. For example, the Renfrew Center, which has eating disorder treatment facilities in seven states, has contracted with 75 insurance companies around the country to help patients get at least partial coverage for treatment, which costs about $1,650 per day for inpatient treatment at its clinics. The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders is urging patients and families to learn the details of their insurance policies and to keep careful records of all contacts with their insurance providers. The association also is encouraging families to get letters from their doctors detailing why a specific course of medical treatment is necessary and to stress the medical implications of the illness. In addition, Academy for Eating Disorders, an international association of professionals in the field, this fall published the Worldwide Charter for Action on Eating Disorders, which calls for insurance companies and health care systems to provide equal coverage for eating disorder treatment. Eric van Furth, president of AED, said, “The idea behind it is that if we as professionals can set standards to begin with, we can persuade the insurance companies to support those criteria and to link those to reimbursement” (Bernstein, Wall Street Journal, 1/2).

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