Deadly Denials: Insurers and Eating Disorders

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A four-part investigative series supported by the Pulitzer Center.

There may be no better example of the second-class status of mental health services in this country than the very different way those services are paid for. For decades, large numbers of people in the U.S. in need of mental health services have faced an even more elaborate and confusing set of barriers erected by health insurers – treatment limitations, requirements for pre-authorization, medical necessity guidelines – than those faced by people seeking care for physical conditions.

The result: People needing mental health services have an extraordinarily difficult time getting the care they need. No condition is more affected by this failure to provide coverage than eating disorders, which claim the lives of more than 10,000 Americans every year. MindSite News dug into this problem in a week-long series, with the generous support of the Pulitzer Center. We are also grateful to our publishing partners, The Seattle Times, Public Health Watch, Louisville Public Media and the Daily Yonder.

This series is available for republication at no cost to any interested news organization. Contact info@mindsitenews.org.

Part 1
The Deadly Cost of Eating Disorders: How Health Insurers Delay, Restrict and Deny Care
Eating disorders are America’s deadliest mental health condition. For people struggling to get care, health insurers create some of the most formidable hurdles.

Part 2
‘A Front Row Seat to Desperation’: Meet the Advocates Fighting to Remove Barriers to Eating Disorder Treatment
Across the country, a small group of lawyers and care navigators help patients, often desperately ill, battle with health insurers to access services. It’s a high-stress job, and “you don’t save everybody.”

Part 3
Eating Disorders: It Doesn’t Just Happen to Skinny, White, Affluent Girls
For years, the media image of an anorexic youth was an emaciated white female teen. The stereotype was so pervasive that eating disorder specialists have an acronym for it: SWAG, or skinny, white, affluent girl.

Part 4
“We’re Not Serving Our Rural Communities”: One Eating Disorder Specialist for 250,000 People
For people in rural America, finding treatment for eating disorders is nearly impossible. Nearly 20% of patients live in states with no residential treatment in their state.

About The Author

Melanie Haiken is an award-winning journalist who has written for Afar, the BBC, CNN, Forbes, Fortune, Health magazine, MindSite News, National Geographic, Sierra magazine and the Washington Post, among others. She has a personal interest in this subject. “As the mother of a child who spent many years in treatment for anorexia and bulimia, I encountered these barriers myself. And in the parent support groups I attended, I shared the experiences of other families hit hard by the expense of treatment and the denials of insurance support.”