The deadly cost of eating disorders: How insurance providers delay, restrict and deny care

"I had to choose and I chose life," says Emilis Remeikis frankly, after being diagnosed with anorexia nervosa about eight years ago.

The deadly cost of eating disorders: How insurance providers delay, restrict and deny care

Cheri Levinson, clinic founder (left), and Stacey Annis, director of operations, in front of the Louisville Center for Eating Disorders clinic in Louisville, Kentucky on Friday May 9, 2025.(Natosha Via / MindSiteNews)Part 1 of Deadly Denials, a four-part series supported by the Pulitzer Center.The worst moment in Beth T’s life came on a Thursday afternoon in June 2020, when she got a call from McCallum Place, a residential treatment facility for…

The Deadly Cost of Eating Disorders: How Insurance Providers Delay, Restrict and Deny Care - Public Health Watch

Part 1 of Deadly Denials, a four-part series supported by the Pulitzer Center.Updates story to add news of Trump administration plans to rescind or modify parity rulesThe worst moment in Beth T’s life came on a Thursday afternoon in June 2020, when she got a call from McCallum Place, a residential treatment facility for eating disorders in St. Louis, Missouri. Beth’s daughter Gigi (a pseudonym) had spent five months there being treated for sever…

Could I Have an Eating Disorder?

Some women at midlife adopt extreme measures to stay thin, perhaps because the hormonal changes of menopause have caused them to gain weight, or maybe a divorce has pushed them back into the dating scene. Whatever the reason, eating disorders in midlife and older women are not uncommon, yet they are under-recognized. In research examining eating disorder symptoms among women aged 45 to 61, body dissatisfaction was cited as a key risk factor.1 I …