Five Things You Should Know About Your Insurance
Yesterday I was in Washington, DC with the Eating Disorders Coalition and many eating disorder/mental health advocates from across the country for the 2015 Spring Lobby Day. This time we were focusing our energies on the Anna Westin Act of 2015. This legislation would clarify the mental health parity act (so that insurance companies stop unjustly denying patients treatment), increase training about eating disorders for health professionals, and encourage truth in advertising. However — I will write more about that at another time! For now, I wanted to share with you a post that I wrote for...
Read MoreMoney, Power, and Eating Disorder Justice
I’m a bit late in writing this, as it has been an up-and-down sort of week. Better late than never, right? Last Wednesday I had the totally awesome experience of joining members of the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) for Mental Health Matters Day in Albany. We met with legislators and their staff to advocate on behalf of important eating disorder issues, especially matters of justice and accessing treatment. Specifically, we were asking 1) to help close the gap between so-called mental health parity justice and what insurers REALLY end up covering for mental health (i.e., not...
Read MorePatient Advocacy: Winning the Battle Against Blue Cross Blue Shield
As much as I don’t want to spend another minute on this topic, I think it’s necessary to talk about this last week and what has happened with Blue Cross Blue Shield. Let’s put the happy ending of the story first: I won my battle with Blue Cross Blue Shield and was able to return to treatment as of last night. I have learned two things from the experience of successfully going up against my insurance company on my own: It is possible to reverse an insurance company’s decision. They bank on most people giving up after the first few “no’s,” so you just have to make sure to push them far enough....
Read MoreWhy I Am Grateful for 12 Years With an Eating Disorder
On Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, I traveled to Washington D.C. with hundreds of other eating disorder advocates to participate in the Eating Disorders Coalition’s fall Lobby Day and to join the first ever M.O.M. March on Capitol Hill (#MarchAgainstED). I’d never done activism of this sort before. So, on Monday night as I was packing for my trip, I Googled “What do you wear to go lobbying?” The answer: “Look good. Damn good. You’re representing millions of people in these meetings.” (But hey, no reason to be nervous, right?) To be honest, the fact that I would...
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