Obtaining Coverage for Eating Disorder Treatment: One Mother's Story

TUCSON, Ariz. - Nov. 21, 2015 - PRLog -- A mother spends a sleepless night in an Arizona hotel room, wondering if her daughter will survive until morning, when she can check into a local eating disorder treatment center.  Her daughter’s anorexia was so underweight that her bones were protruding and her heart rate was in the 30s.

“I was terrified she wouldn’t make it through the night,” Linda Downey said. “I couldn’t wait for daylight to get her to a safe place.”

After attending six previous treatment programs in the Boston area, Linda’s daughter, Emaleigh, was finally admitted to Mirasol, a holistic eating disorder treatment center in Tucson, Arizona.

At Mirasol, Emaleigh said she developed a healthy relationship with her body and began to recover he health. “I think what I found most helpful was that I was actually treated like a human,” she said.

But as soon as Emaleigh began gaining weight, the Downeys’ insurance company denied continuing coverage for her treatment because her eating disorder was no longer “immediately life-threatening.”

The Downeys filed multiple appeals with the insurance company, including a letter from Emaleigh’s therapist saying she could die if she was sent home to soon, but the company still refused to pay for her continuing treatment.

The family took out a home equity loan to pay for the final month of Emaleigh’s stay at Mirasol. They’re also using her college money to help pay for her outpatient care now that she’s home.

The battle to save her daughter’s life inspired Linda Downey to advocate for the Anna Westin Act, named for a young woman who committed suicide in 2000, which would mandate better insurance coverage for eating disorders. Linda traveled to Washington, D.C., last month to take part in the MOM March Against Eating Disorders on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol and joined advocates to lobby members of Congress.  While there, she met with her Congressman, Seth Moulton of Salem, Massachusetts.

Moulton says he signed on as a co-sponsor of the Westin Act “due to the advocacy of Linda Downey.”

“This is how democracy should work,” Moulton said. “No big-money lobbyists, just a concerned mother who wants to make life better for those suffering with an eating disorder. I hope my support for the bill can make a difference.”