Patrick Rose

Hundreds gathering at conference on eating disorders in Austin to talk about illness, lack of insurance coverage.

By Mary Ann Roser
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, September 18, 2008

Carolyn Dower of Austin calls her family one of the lucky ones. Although her daughter has an eating disorder that caused serious illness, Jenna Dower is getting the treatment she needs.

That’s not the case for many of the 11 million Americans — 10 million of them female — who have anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders, according to the National Eating Disorders Association. It is holding its annual conference in Austin through Saturday at the Renaissance Austin Hotel and expects 500 attendees.

Many insurance plans don’t cover eating disorders, and even when they do, they often limit the coverage, especially when treatment is in a residential facility, said Lynn Grefe, the association’s CEO. Patients who must leave without finishing their therapy when the coverage runs out can relapse or even die, Grefe said.

"It’s one of the most frustrating things we face," she said.

State Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs, plans to sponsor legislation once again that would require Texas health insurance plans to cover eating disorders. Similar bills died in committee in 2005 and 2007, but Rose is hopeful that momentum is on his side for the 2009 legislative session, which begins in January.

"It’s an issue of great importance to us and the state," said Rose, who is scheduled to speak at the conference Friday morning.

When he heard about Sarah Whitworth, a former Hays High School student who had an eating disorder, "we realized millions of families in Texas who are fully insured don’t know today if their daughter or their son were in Sarah’s situation … they would be absolutely uncovered and personally responsible," he said.

Whitworth, now 20, said her father, Gene, withdrew $70,000 from his retirement account to pay for her to be treated at a residential facility in Reno, Nev., from Sept. 2 to Nov. 17, 2004. She said she is 5 foot 3 inches tall and at one point weight 72 pounds because of anorexia, a problem she had from eighth to 11th grade.

No event triggered the disorder, "which is scary, kind of," she said. "It’s personality. I’m a perfectionist. … I want to do everything right."

Whitworth, now a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is featured in the current issue of Cosmo Girl.

Dower said her daughter Jenna Dower, 20, has been in treatment at a facility in San Diego since January and doesn’t know when she’s coming home. The treatment costs about $30,000 a month, but because the family’s insurance plan covers most of it, Dower can stay until she is well.

Dower’s eating disorder began after she was molested at age 13. It’s deeply entrenched and "not about the food," her mother said. "It’s about trauma suppression."

When Dower entered treatment, she was bulimic but did not look painfully thin, Carolyn Dower said. Even so, her heart had shrunk, and she had damaged her esophagus and had stomach problems, Dower said. Her doctor feared she could have a seizure at any time, Dower added.

Dr. Edward Tyson, the Austin doctor who treated Jenna Dower and Whitworth, is speaking at the conference. He said treatment is essential because eating disorders have the highest death rate of any mental illness.

Seventeen states require insurers to cover eating disorders, but the amount of coverage varies, Tyson said.

Texas health insurance plan representatives were not enthusiastic about Rose’s plan to reintroduce his legislation.

Mandates raise costs, they said, but "we generally take a neutral position" on them, said Jared Wolfe, executive director of the Texas Association of Health Plans.

maroser@statesman.com; 445-3619