Advocates Hope Suit Will Make Insurers Cover Anorexia

Advocates for eating disorder patients hope that the results of a lawsuit settled last month in Minnesota, in which Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota agreed to pay $1 million to the family of a woman who committed suicide after fighting anorexia for five years, "will compel insurers across the country" to cover treatment for anorexia, the AP/Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. The state and the family of the 21-year-old woman, Anna Westin, filed the suit against Blue Cross by the woman's family and the state for refusing to pay Westin's medical costs. Under the terms of the settlement, the company will pay the family $1 million and will "begin accepting doctors' recommendations for the treatment of eating disorders." Although the settlement does not apply to other insurance companies, "it could lead to similar lawsuits and changes across the country," the AP/Star Tribune reports. Minnesota's "other three major" HMOs are "already reviewing procedures for granting mental health treatment," the AP/Star Tribune reports. Harry Sutton, an independent health care consultant in Minnesota, said, "The same pressure will come out everywhere else, but maybe not as violently as it did [in Minnesota]." Activists are also "pushing for" federal legislation to require health insurers to cover treatment for eating disorders and "other mental illnesses," the AP/Star Tribune reports (Carlson, AP/Minneapolis Star Tribune, 7/30).