RICHMOND — It’s what some are calling a broken system.
For those with government-run health insurance like Medicare and Medicaid, finding proper treatment for an eating disorder can be difficult.
26-year-old Brittni has high-functioning autism and last year, developed anorexia nervosa.
“We are just constantly pleading with her to eat. It seems so simple to you and I, but for someone like Brittni, it just isn’t,” her mom, Tina Johnson, said.
Johnson says her daughter desperately needs an inpatient facility.
Tina Johnson
Brittni is on Medicaid.
Johnson says many places don’t accept her insurance.
And she says the out-of-pocket cost can be upwards of $1,000 a day.
“They like to at least keep them for a minimum of 30 days. So there’s no way. That’s just ridiculous,” Johnson said.
Johnson and her daughter are not alone.
96.7% of ED specialists believe patients are put in life-threatening situations because of health insurance companies’ refusal to cover treatment.
That’s according to an Eating Disorder Coalition survey of 109 specialists from nearly every inpatient facility nationwide.
“When you have comorbidities, especially being low income, there is this rift with insurance, especially those who are on public assistance, of what is going to be covered,” expert Makailah Dowell said.
Dowell is a peer mentor with Equip, a virtual eating disorder treatment program.
She says situations like Brittni’s are all too common.
Advocates like her want to see the system change.
“There’s a cost minimum for an individual that’s on public assistance in each state. Depending on which state you’re in, the cost is going to be different. That cost needs to be removed,” she said.
For Johnson, she fears for her daughter’s future.
“I feel that her body is just going to start shutting down and that she will eventually pass away. I mean, that’s our biggest fear,” she said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
