Anorexia treatment given boost in federal appeals court ruling

A federal appeals court in CA has ruled that a residential treatment institution that provided healthcare and rehabilitation for an anorexic woman must have her stay covered under her health insurance policy. There are hopes that this ruling could lead the way for a wider range of treatment options for sufferers of mental illnesses.

Jeanene Harlick was the woman treated in the facility for anorexia, with feeding tubes applied to her frail body after her weight fell to 65 per cent of what it should be ideally. Despite the treatments she received being deemed as ‘medically necessary,’ her insurer Blue Shield of California categorically excluded financial protection in the event of a stay in a residential facility – where Harlick was based for 10 months in total.

Blue Shield’s coverage is a clear conflict to the Mental Health Parity Act in California, as these insurance policy exclusions were only made because of mental illness. Usually, residential treatments are included in a healthcare policy when there is a physical injury to claim from.

Other mental illnesses that could fall under this category include bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, OCD, autism, Asperger’s and other emotional problems. The extent to which this will affect Blue Shield’s 3.4 million policyholders remains unclear at present.

At present, nothing has been confirmed in regard to the next steps for Blue Shield. They may choose to petition the CA judicial system for a rehearing of the case, or the Supreme Court could be asked to scrutinise the decision already made in the federal appeals court.