Around 9% of Americans will have an eating disorder in their lifetime. Experts say a new law will help protect those suffering from eating disorders.
DENVER — The new year will ring in a number of new laws to the Centennial State, including one that will better help those dealing with eating disorders.
Around 9% of Americans — that’s more than 28 million people — will have an eating disorder in their lifetime, according to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders.
Specialists said this new law is a good step toward protecting those suffering from eating disorders.
“Eating disorders are very common,” said Dr. Patricia Westmoreland, Consultant Psychiatrist with ACUTE Center for Eating Disorders.
Dr. Westmoreland said they treat those who are very medically ill from an eating disorder. And that demand is high.
“We have a unit of 30 beds. Compared to when I first began working at ACUTE in 2012 we had a five-bed unit, 1720685760 we have a 30-bed unit and there is typically always a waiting list,” Dr. Westmoreland said. We have people admitted here from all over the country and sometimes from other counties in the world.”
“Lots of waiting lists, lots of requests for treatment, yes,” said Brenda Velissaris, Clinical Director at EDCare in Denver.
Velissaris said over at EDCare, they’re seeing demand for help treating eating disorders continue to rise, too.
“I think there’s always been a need but I think the need for eating disorder treatment has increased exponentially since COVID,” Velissaris said.
And, they say, treatment is needed.
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“Eating disorders have the second-highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness other than addiction, opiate addiction. And so people can get very sick and certainly die from these illnesses,” Westmoreland said.
A new law that will take effect in Colorado come January will help those dealing with and caring for people with eating disorders.
It will limit the use of body mass index (BMI) in determining treatment. That’s important, Westmoreland said, because often, it’s not necessarily the weight someone started at and where they’ve ended up at, but their change in weight that needs to be addressed.
“Unfortunately, insurance companies in the past and still now try to use body mass index as a way to indicate whether or not somebody needs a certain level of care. So I think this legislation will be fantastic in terms of insuring they look at other criteria, too,” Westmoreland said.
“There’s much more that goes into an eating disorder than weight,” Velissaris said.
The new law will also ban the sale of diet pills to minors without a prescription.
Velissaris said that’s critical when it comes to preventing a disorder from developing in kids and teens.
“So this not having adolescents have access to diet pills is a great protective factor that our society can give individuals from helping them stay away from or having an eating disorder,” Velissaris said.
Both Westmoreland and Velissaris said this new law won’t bring much change to how their facilities operate. These rules have already been best practices for years.
But, Velissaris said having this written into law is critical so Coloradoans can access the care they need for their health and that all facilities are offering it.
“It’s when people are not necessarily in the eating disorder community, for lack of a better term, where they are thinking they’re being helpful and they’re not following these standards and that’s where it can be a bit dangerous or risky,” Velissaris said.
Both Velissaris and Westmoreland said this new Colorado law is a great start. But, Westmoreland said many people are still unable to access the care they need through insurance.
“I think certainly those of us who have worked in the field for many years very often struggle to get insurance approval for eating disorder treatments. So I think continuing on the path of recognizing eating disorders as the severe psychiatric illnesses that they are and ensuring that individuals have the best access to care possible, I think would be incredibly important, too.”
Velissaris said many plans don’t cover or limit where people can go for treatment. She hopes to see lawmakers take more action to ensure people can get access to the eating disorder treatment and care they need.
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