The Digest: Health insurance, Brittany Snow and resources for ED caregivers

24th June 2008

The Digest: Health insurance, Brittany Snow and resources for ED caregivers

posted in Eating Disorders, Legal Issues, Pop Culture |

The Digest: A roundup of related topics in the news.

Carrying on the conversation of eating disorders and mental health parity from yesterday, Illinois is poised to become the 17th state to mandate insurance companies to pay for the treatment of anorexia and bulimia. The bill, which has gone to Gov. Rod Blagojevich to sign into law and is currently “under review,” would require coverage for 45 days as an inpatient and 60 outpatient visits each calendar year. The coverage still not enough for the most severe cases, experts say, but it does represent a start in parity of coverage for issues of mental health. Send a note to Gov Blagojevich’s office encouraging him to sign the bill into law.

Actress and recovering eating disorder sufferer Brittany Snow told People magazine that’s she’s shelved her trainer and sworn off dieting. The 22-year-old starlet said she’s focusing more on her own mental health. “I refuse to do the whole diet, fitness, style thing anymore,” said Snow. “I just kind of go and have fun. I know what I like, I know what makes me feel good, and that’s just what I do.”

Caring for an individual with an eating disorder can be an exhausting, mentally-draining and arduous ordeal, as shared by moms Harriet Brown and Laura Collins. Now the King’s College at London offers a free course to give carers the necessary skills to help their loved ones battle an eating disorder. Interested in participating in the web-based program? Go here for more information and to sign up.

Click to Bookmark

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 at 1:40 pm and is filed under Eating Disorders, Legal Issues, Pop Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On June 24th, 2008, nuckingfutz

said:

I’m sending a note to the IL governor right now. I know quite a few people back home (incidentally, I grew up in Lemont and 2 of my 4 girls were born in Naperville, so it was kind of strange reading about places I know so intimately in that article) who would have benefited from a law like this.

Brittany Snow? I totally applaud her decision, but I have to wonder how well she’s going to do at sticking TO that decision when still working in Hollywood. That place is toxic.

posted on June 24th, 2008 at 3:48 pm

2 On June 24th, 2008, Cindy

You know what gets me about hollywood? People complain that it’s liberal. Puh-lease! Hollywood makes a product that is largely the crystallization of our worst racist, classist and sexist notions.

posted on June 24th, 2008 at 3:57 pm

3 On June 24th, 2008, Megan

Does anyone know the other 16 states where it’s “mandate[d] insurance companies pay for the treatment of anorexia and bulimia?”

Or have suggestions on where I could look? I’m having trouble finding that answer.

posted on June 24th, 2008 at 5:05 pm

4 On June 25th, 2008, Cassandra

I think mental health bills should be expanded to address ALL FORMS OF MENTAL ILLNESS because self-injury is frequently not covered by not only medical insurance policies, but also mental health policies. Self-injury inpatient therapy often takes more than 20days and only being given 15-20 sessions per year isn’t enough to help those of us who struggle with this too — and self-injury can be fatal.

Even when those of us who struggle from self-injury stop doing it, we can never forget because our bodies are living testimonies to our illness. You can appear physically normal following eating disorder recovery. Self-injury is chronic as well and deserves the same quality treatment as anorexia and bulimia.

Self-injury also has more stigma right now than eating disorders so maybe there will be future reform to the bills being passed to ensure treatment for anorexia/ bulimia to include self-injury too.

Oh - what about treatment for Binge Eating? Do these legislations cover this as well?

posted on June 25th, 2008 at 10:31 am

5 On June 25th, 2008, nuckingfutz

Cassandra, you make a very good point. Pretty much ALL forms of mental illness CAN be fatal (although admittedly, some more than others) and for that reason alone, they should be included on these bills.

posted on June 25th, 2008 at 3:08 pm

6 On September 19th, 2008, Victory in Illinois! Lawmakers pass eating disorder coverage bill » The-F-Word.org said: