Critical Care

There is a reason they are called eating "disorders." They are no different from any other disorder. They are the same as any other addiction, as well. And for many sufferers, they are even harder to stand. Anorexia is the mental disorder with the highest death rate- mostly from suicide. Some insurances are starting to pay for some coverage, but "some" is not enough. Insurances should all work on covering eating disorders, just as they need to cover other mental disorders like autism, addictions, and anything else.

Eating disorders are similar in many ways to other obsessive disorders (and obsessive compulsive disorder is recognized as "biological" by most insurance companies.

The difference between OCD and eating disorders is the focus of the obsession. Instead of being obsessed with say, washing your hands, or organzing things, people with eating disorders become obessed with controlling food. It is a biological tendency gone awry. These people need medical help.

Did you know that if McCain is elected you will have to pay income tax on the value of the medical insurance that your employer gives you? Worse still, he is offering a tax break for people who pay their own insurance, BUT only $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families.

Let's say you have a family of four. Your insurance policy costs would be at least $1,500-2,500 per month under a self-pay plan, which cost more than employer group plans. So, you pay $18,000 -$30,000 per year for insurance, and you get to deduct only $5,000 of that. If you paid $25,000 for you insurance, you would be out of pocket $20,000 per year. This is FAR WORSE than the current system, where if you are self employed you can deduct 100% of you medical insurance costs.

So, if you're not self employed, you would stick with your Employer's plan. Employer plans for a family of four have a value of $900-$1,500 per month totaling 10,800-$18,000 per year. Surprise! On April 15th, you owe tax on all of that as INCOME to you. Say your bracket is 25%, and the value of your Employer medical plan is $14,000. You will OWE THE IRS an additional $3,500, and that's ON TOP of whatever monthly premium you already pay to your employer for your insurance.

Many analysts say that McCain's new rules would encourage employers to stop offering health benefits. If that happened, then far fewer Americans would be insured than are insured today, because what family of four can afford $18,000-$30,000 out of pocket per year for self-pay health insurance?

Furthermore, McCain's plan does not require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions of people who self-pay their insurance. People under employer group plans have all of their pre-existing conditions covered. This is a hugely unfair aspect of the current system. Insurance companies can afford to cover the pre-existing conditions of the much larger pool of people with group insurance, but they refuse to pay the pre-existing conditions on the smaller pool of self-pay customers. They have been allowed to price gouge the self-pay customers, which is a form of market manipulation that should be illegal.

So let's say one of your kids had diabetes and you have high blood pressure, then your employer stops offering insurance. You now have to buy your own, but you and your child are INELIGIBLE due to pre-existing conditions. Oh, yeah, they will let you buy the insurance, but you can't use it for any pre-existing condition until you have paid on time every month for two years. And you know what happens at one year and 11 months? You get a letter saying your policy has been cancelled. I have many patients this has happened to.

McCain's plan SUCKS.

It does nothing to help middle class working Americans afford or obtain medical insurance. In fact, it makes the current system WORSE.

Even if anorexia is considered not to be a "biological-based disorder", I would much rather see insurance companies cover treatment for this ailment rather than spend billions to treat people who have abused their bodies for decades with smoking, poor eating habits, and a lack of exercise. Let those people go into debt to treat their weight related diabetes, or their high blood pressure, or their sleep apnea, or their lung cancer...

I think this kind of people has anorexia, needs have a special care to understand that the most important thing is what they are into, inside - they needs be aceppted first by theyselves to understand that the oders will like them more than aperience! I know is so difficult, but, they need so, this kind of care.

Healthcare is about "health" that includes both physical and psychological. I don't care how you got to where you are if it is affecting the natural homeostasis of the human body it should be covered by insurance..period!

The state of our health insurance in this country is a joke. While obviously all companies are motivated by the bottom line, the problem is the insurance companies draw the bottom line so that anyone who is sick and in need of medical attention falls beneath it and will get sicker and die. Health care should not be profit-based to the extent that it is. The insurance companies are not hurting for profits. We need one risk pool for health insurance. It is ridiculous to try to eliminate "sick" people from health care! Where else did you expect to find them? We don't have health care, we have sick care. This increases costs overall and leads to cost shifting, which we all pay for anyways. It is pathetic how the insurance companies work. They all need to burn in he!!.

After being treated for Bulimia Nervosa and having gone through several inpatient and outpatient treatment cycles, I have had the horrible experience of being denied medical coverage by my insurance company (which at the time was GHI) based on my "medical review" which showed that I was not "at risk of hurting myself or others." My immediate thought was that, although I am not suicidal and don't feel the need to attack anyone near me, I am still severely symptomatic and at risk to rupture my esophagus.

My therapist and psychiatrist at the time told me to leave school and to stay home while trying to get into an inpatient treatment facility. I was getting my blood tested daily, and at one point, The Renfrew Center in PA denied my entry by claiming that my potassium was too low (a common side effect of bulimia and anorexia) which to me, was the entire point. My insurance company thought that I was too sick in a sense to go to Renfrew, yet not sick enough to have my nutritionist covered, or to get the treatment I needed.

After two weeks of fighting and pleading with the insurance company, I was able to get a bed at a facility I had been twice before. After two weeks my insurance stopped covering my stay (without insurance it is about $2,000 a night out of pocket) and I had to leave AMA (against medical advice). The most ironic part of the situation was that now on my medical records, it shows that I left the hospital AMA, which makes it that much harder for my outpatient treatment to be covered by other insurance companies.

In three years I was inpatient three times, and all three times I had to leave early because of my insurance. I see a therapist and a nutritionist, neither of which are covered by insurance (about $450 per week) and I have learned to use this as a motivation to stay healthy. Throughout my time in treatment, I met dozens of people who dealt with the same situation with their insurance companies, which in most cases were more severe than mine. Although Eating Disorders are not necessarily "biological-based disorders" they have the highest mortality rate out of any psychological illness, which I think counts for something.

I'm not sure that insurance will ever be "fair" or what it really needs to be in this country, but I do hope that people who are now in recovery for their Eating Disorders, and who shared similar experiences with their insurance companies will speak out and attempt to inflict change.

Funny that this article doesn't mention the new Illinois law requiring coverage for eating disorders.