Insurance Denials for Eating Disorder Treatment Persist Despite Mental Health Parity Law

Summary

This investigative report examines how insurance companies are exploiting loopholes in the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act to deny coverage for intensive eating disorder treatment. Through the story of Katerina Rinaldi and other patients, the article reveals that insurers routinely deny inpatient and residential care for eating disorders, despite these conditions having the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. The report highlights how insurers use narrow medical necessity criteria, lack of in-network providers, and restrictive coverage policies to avoid paying for expensive but life-saving care, forcing patients into repeated cycles of hospitalization and relapse.