State May Offer Aid to Those With Eating Disorders

May 6, 2004 - ALBANY, NY - While the topic of obesity seems to be in the news on a daily basis, millions of men and women suffer from Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa, two eating disorders that can lead to serious health and mental health problems and even death.

To provide help, the state Senate is proposing to open healthcare centers in the state that would focus solely on eating disorders.

"Eating disorders have become an epidemic and they are creating a war within our culture and destroying the minds, bodies and hearts of young American people," said Jenny Lauren, an Anorexia survivor who recently wrote an autobiography.

Lauren, the niece of famed designer Ralph Lauren, nearly died at age 24 when her small intestine collapsed into her rectum, requiring abdominal and colorectal surgery. At the time, Lauren could not walk orgo to the bathroom, and she still suffers from digestive problems. She was in Albany supporting the Senate's proposal.

"It is not only about wanting to look good. It has to do with the wiring," she said. Anorexia, where a person starves himself or herself, and Bulimia, where a person binges, then purges by vomiting, are difficult to diagnose, and the medical world is still trying to understand their cause. The most recent theories include a combination of genetics and family environment.

According to one estimate, the two disorders affect 10 million women and 1 million men nationwide. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, the death rate is 12 times higher for people who suffer from the disease. The centers would provide treatment and promote community education and awareness of the disorders. The bill would also mandate insurance companies pick up the tab if the centers provide care, which can include in-patient treatment.

"Women think they have to be skinny, slender, to be out there," said state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick. "Youngsters are mutilating themselves, literally mutilating themselves.

"We have to do something about it, something real."

Bruno said the $1 million price tag will come in part from new funding and in part by moving existing dollars around.

The Commissioner of Health will determine where the centers will be located. Meanwhile, Bruno said he is willing to hold a conference committee with the Assembly to iron out differences in Timothy's Law, a bill that would grant insurance parity to mental health patients.

The Assembly's version of the bill, which it passed three years in a row, would increase the number of uninsured in this state from 3 million to as many as 5 million, Bruno said.

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