On December 13, 2016, President Barack Obama signed H.R. 34, the 21st Century Cures Act, into Law. This historic bipartisan legislation included included key provisions from the Anna Westin Act (S. 1865/H.R. 2515) including clarification of existing mental health parity law to improve health insurance coverage for eating disorders and life-saving residential treatment, early identification of eating disorders training for health professionals, and enhanced information and resources to help early identification of eating disorders by the public.
This legislation passed the House of Representatives with a 392-26 vote and then passed the Senate by 94-5. I believe all Arizona's senators and representatives voted in favor. Amazingly wonderful!
A one-page summary of the Anna Westin Act can be found here accompanied by a personal account of my trip to Washington, DC to lobby for this legislation, also here. Amazingly, the Anna Westin Act received the bipartisan support of 101 Senators and Congressmen (36 Republicans and 65 Democrats) including, from Arizona, Rep. Kyrsten Sinema and Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick who signed on as co-sponsors of the bill.
A very special thank you to them and to Senator Amy Klobuchar [D-MN] and Congressman Ted Deutch (D-FL] who introduced the legislation in 2015 along with their colleagues Senator Kelly Ayotte [R-NH], Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL], Senator Tammy Baldwin [D-WI] and Senator Shelley Moore Capito [R-WV].
[Blog note: I spent most of 2016 advocating for my family member while she spent more than 180 days in hospitals and ER's as we attempted to keep her alive through legal means as well as imploring her mental health care provider and an insurance company to help her. This periodic hospitalization continues. We are grateful for the care including the important involvement of a special team and the coverage for that care that she has received, for without it, I truly do not think she would be alive today.
As you will learn here, our State Legislature has done nothing to provide Medicaid Coverage specifically for eating disorders because the one piece of legislation that could have started Arizona on the road to providing coverage died in a subcommittee.
I am so very thankful that the 21st Century Cures and Mental Health Reform Act incorporating the Anna Westin Act became law and to the many people who made it happen, starting with Kitty Westin whose telephone number was given to me years ago by a nurse here in an ER. Kitty, the mother of Anna Westin who died more than 16 years ago and after whom the eating disorder legislation is named, picked up the phone at her home and talked with me perhaps for a half hour giving me encouragement to keep going in spite of enormous odds.
Perhaps something now can happen in Arizona so people with an eating disorder diagnosis will get the life-saving treatment they need and early so they will not go through what my family member and we have endured for so many years.
Again, those with what is known as Severe and Enduring Eating Disorders (SE-AN) deserve a chance and opportunity to get into recovery. I recommend reading this piece found in the "Of Note" section by Stephen Touyz and Philipa Hay, published in the Journal of Eating Disorders (2015) 3:26.]
Information is provided about eating disorders, particularly of adults, to parents and other loved ones written by a parent who is in recovery from an eating disorder.
Welcome
When I created this blog, I was "getting on" in my early sixties, hence the blog name. However, my adult daughter's eating disorder and co-occurring emotional dysregulation disorder and other co-morbidities - ongoing for about 33 years - became and was our focus as we attempted to help her get into recovery. By learning about, reflecting on, reading about, attending conferences and writing about eating and brain disorders, I created a place to blog what I've learned. I hope this blog will be of use to others, especially families of and adult sufferers themselves to help them get into recovery. I update posts from time and the update date will be present at the top of the post.
Sadly, my daughter passed away in early October 2021 mainly because her body became so malnourished that she was immunocompromised, contracted a severe infection that was not properly addressed during an earlier hospital stay the month before, and developed an overwhelming non-covid pneumonia following surgery to save her life. I believe she should have been able to receive palliative care but Arizona, our country, and even the professionals trained in the treatment of eating disorders, particularly anorexia, are not "there" yet. I address the issue of palliative care in a recent post below, initially written in November 2021. I am not a certified eating disorder specialist. I am an Expert by Experience and college-educated with a BA in Community Work with an additional certificate in a one-year program in Business Administration from the same institution.
I am passionate about all of this because, as Shakespeare wrote in The Taming of the Shrew, Act 4, Scene 3: "My tongue will tell the anger [and sadness] of my heart or else my heart, concealing it, will break. And, rather than it shall, I will be free even to the uttermost, as I please in words."[2016]
Travel Guide
If you're new to my blog, I recommend you begin on the right side and take a look at the "Of Note" offerings. Read Dr. Cynthia Bulik's recent published interview (5/4/22) "Rethinking Eating Disorders" if you want to print an easy-to-understand professional's expert opinion about anorexia for your family doctor or the therapist. [Early intervention is absolutely critical. For those whose eating disorder is categorized as entrenched or severe and enduring, read the editorial comment by Stephen Touyz and Philipa Hay for a new approach about treatment. It is possible for your loved one to recover! I have also attached a link here for additional papers on the subject of severe and entrenched eating disorders. If you are a family member or friend of an adult with an eating disorder and have been at this for awhile, I refer you to the posts within the title "Adult Eating Disorders and Recovery Tools" found in the Index on the right hand side of this site. As well, in the "Of Note" section take a look at those posts with an asterisk. If you're a parent and need support, look for posts in the Index about parent support or parent toolbox.
In my opinion, the best book to buy, to refer to constantly and to share with members of the medical/psychiatric profession is "Sick Enough: A Guide to the Medical Complications of Eating Disorders" by Jennifer L. Gaudiani MD, CEDS, FAED. "Dr. Gaudiani aims to improve medical diagnosis and treatment, motivate recovery, and validate the lived experiences of individuals of all body shapes and sizes, while firmly rejecting dieting culture."
I recommend two groups who will support you on your journey - F.E.A.S.T and the National Alliance for Eating Disorders. Both maintain websites and Facebook private groups.
Showing posts with label Eating Disorders and 21st Century Cures and Mental Health Reform Act of 2016. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eating Disorders and 21st Century Cures and Mental Health Reform Act of 2016. Show all posts
Friday, February 24, 2017
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