Deadly Denials: How Insurance Providers Delay, Restrict, and Deny Care for Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are the deadliest of all mental health conditions (not including substance use disorders) and claim, on average, 10,200 lives a year—one every 52 minutes. More than a quarter of people with an eating disorder attempt suicide. Rates have soared since the start of the pandemic in 2020, with eating disorders among teens more than doubling. Yet people suffering from these conditions face enormous difficulty getting their care covered.

A 10-month investigation by MindSite News has found evidence that many health insurers and managed care organizations delay, deny, or restrict care for people with eating disorders instead of meeting the growing need for services—in apparent violation of federal and state parity laws requiring insurers to cover mental health treatment on par with medical services. Our reporting shows that people on public insurance—with the least ability to pay for services themselves—face greater obstacles to care,  in part because private equity firms that now own nearly all residential eating-disorder treatment programs routinely reject Medicaid patients. 

These stories are being published by MindSite News and cross-published by outlets including the Seattle Times, Public Health Watch, Louisville Public Media, The Daily Yonder, and Capital B.

Thumbnail image by Annie Spratt/Unsplash. 2018.