EDC Bids Farewell to Jeanine Cogan

The Eating Disorder Coalition's (EDC) Policy Director Jeanine Cogan has announced her resignation. Jeanine was the founding Executive Director of the EDC and was instrumental in its leadership and direction for 14 years. She has decided to step aside now so the EDC can bring in new leadership as we undertake changing and growing opportunities on Capitol Hill. The EDC board accepted her resignation on February 28th and it will go into effect on March 21, 2014.

Under Jeanine's watch, the EDC has been able to influence Congress in a variety of ways including playing an important role in passing the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 and the introduction of the Federal Response to Eliminate Eating Disorders Act.  In the past 14 years, under Jeanine's guidance, the EDC has made certain that eating disorders language has been inserted in several bills that have been put before Congress. In addition, she was instrumental in making sure eating disorders issues have been included in Congressional Hearings, press conferences and town hall meetings across the United States.

Jeanine's most important legacy however is her commitment to training and empowering individuals affected by eating disorders to speak out. She planned, organized and led dozens of EDC Advocacy Training and Lobby Days and she has trained hundreds of citizen activists to share their stories and use their voices to educate Congress about eating disorders.  In addition to Lobby Day trainings Jeanine organized Congressional Briefings, receptions for EDC members and members of Congress and participated in countless meetings and committees in Washington, D.C. as part of the greater mental health community.

The EDC is sorry to lose Jeanine's skills and passion and she will be missed.  EDC President, Johanna Kandel expressed her gratitude and confidence that the EDC's work will continue; "We are extremely grateful for the pioneering work Jeanine has done to advance eating disorders as a public health priority on a federal level.  We look forward to continuing the life-saving work she accomplished and excited about this new chapter for the EDC."

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Intends to call on the FTC to Examine the Effects of “Photoshopped” Advertising on Eating Disorders and Consumer Health

The Eating Disorders Coalition (EDC) and Seth Matlins of the Brave Girls Alliance commend Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen’s intent to introduce legislation requiring the Federal Trade Commission to study the broad-range of health consequences of advertising that “photoshops” and changes the human form by advertisers. “Photoshopped” advertisements have a particularly strong impact on children and girls. Rep. Ros-Lehtinen said on the House Floor, “The kinds of altered or photoshopped images found in media today can cause unrealistic expectations of what the body is supposed to look like, causing emotional, mental and physical health issues, and often resulting in an eating disorder."

“We are extremely excited about this legislation. Rep. Ros-Lehtinen has long been a champion for the eating disorders causes, and we value her leadership on this important initiative,” said Johanna Kandel, President of the Eating Disorders Coalition, “ The EDC has been concerned about the effect “photoshopping” can have on the onset of eating disorders for quite sometime and we look forward to its introduction and working with her on this initiative.”

"As the father of 2 young children, I'm incredibly grateful for the leadership Representative Ros-Lehtinen is demonstrating" said Seth Matlins, who first began advocating for this type of legislative action with his wife almost three years ago. "Advertisers have been operating within guidelines and a 'business-as-usual' approach that needs to be re-examined. When 69% of elementary school girls say magazine images influence their concept of ideal body shape - and yet the body shapes they see aren't real or attainable; when 80% of women feel "shame" after reading a beauty magazine, we need to act, and re-consider commercial practices that are harming a broad cross-section of the population."

The Eating Disorders Coalition is a non-profit policy and advocacy organization for persons with eating disorders located in Washington, DC. Seth Matlins is a father, marketer, and member of the Brave Girls Alliance, which shares the message that girls want, and deserve more empowered and healthy media.  For more information, visit www.eatingdisorderscoalition.org and BraveGirlsWant.com.

Congressional Briefing on Truth In Advertising: The FTC's Role In Protecting Consumers from "Photoshopped" Ads

                                                                                     

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Seth Matlins

(310) 266-4545

March 4, 2014

           

Congressional Briefing to Focus on “Photoshopped” Ads as False Advertising

The Eating Disorders Coalition, Seth Matlins and the Brave Girls Alliance, will host a Congressional briefing, Thursday, April 3^rd at 12:00 p.m. in 210 Cannon House Office Building.  The briefing will be sponsored by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and will be titled “Truth in Advertising: The FTC’s Role in Protecting Consumers from “Photoshopped” Ads” and will discuss the mental, emotional, physical and economic health consequences of "Photoshopped" advertising.

Rep. Ros-Lehtinen has long been a protector and advocate for women and girls, the two populations most at-risk from these common practices. The briefing will draw on a panel of experts, and highlight that despite its ubiquity, when advertising changes the human body it is:

false and deceptive,  intended to and does influence consumer purchase decisions, and  inextricably linked to consumer damages and an array of health issues, particularly among women, and girls 6 – 18.

"The importance of demanding transparency in our advertising practices cannot be underestimated. It is a fact that eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses, and have been highly correlated with Western popular cultural ideals. The practice of repeatedly and deceptively misrepresenting the human physique, as is commonly practiced using “photoshopping” in modern-day advertising, has enormous public health implications," said, Jaye Azoff, Psy.D., Eating Disorders Coalition Board Member.

"An epidemic of health and economic issues are being created by manipulated images in what amounts to false advertising," said Seth Matlins, who first began advocating for this type of legislative action with his wife almost three years ago. The briefing panel will include experts from  marketing and advertising, academia, and the Eating Disorders community.

The Eating Disorder Coalition is a non-profit policy and advocacy organization for persons with eating disorders located in Washington, DC. Seth Matlins is a father, marketer, and social entrepreneur, and member of the Brave Girls Alliance sharing the message that girls want, and deserve more empowered and healthy media.  For more information, visit www.eatingdisorderscoalition.org and BraveGirlsWant.com.

Patrick Kennedy Speaks at Mental Health Liaison Group

Patrick Kennedy was a key supporter of the FREED Act. In fact, he was the first champion of FREED introducing it for the first time in 2009. Patrick Kennedy stepped down from Congress in 2011, but he remains a supporter of the EDC’s work and a champion for mental health policy.

Recently, Patrick Kennedy delivered a speech to the Mental Health Liaison Group, a group which the EDC is a member. He urged further collaboration within the mental health community, and emphasized the need for additional policies.

We agree with the sentiment of his final sentences “We have made great strides in passing the parity law and seeing it integrated into the Affordable Care Act, and many of you deserve credit for these truly significant steps. … More important, we are working to ensure that people with these conditions receive the care they need when and where they need it and that they are not punished because it is their brain that is affected. That’s why I continue to see the fight for parity – the quest for a culture of parity – as the civil rights struggle of today, and that’s why I’m so proud to be working with all of you to achieve our common goals.”

Thank you, Patrick Kennedy for joining the EDC in this fight. As we continue to fight for people with eating disorders. We too, are working for a world, where eating disorders are treated at parity, everyone receives the treatment they need, physicians are well-trained  to recognize early eating disorders, and prevention programs abound in schools. We are working to influence federal policy so that these hopes become reality.

For the full text of his speech click here.  

Mental Health Parity Matters

We thank Kantor and Kantor for their blog and want to draw additional attention to the New York settlement with Cigna.

 

Last week, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced that the state of New York had settled with Cigna, a major insurance company. The settlement, resulted from a probe into New York health insurance companies’ compliance with mental health parity laws. The probe discovered that Cigna has denied more than 300 sessions of nutritional counseling to about 50 members with mental health conditions, mostly eating disorders, since 2010. Cigna’s denials were on the grounds that the members exceeded the three-visit limit. Because Cigna, did not limit nutritional counseling visits for members with physical diseases, the State determined they were in violation with existing New York parity law.

 

“State law clearly requires health insurance companies to provide mental health benefits on par with other medical benefits. There is no gray area here,” Attorney General Schneiderman said. “Today’s settlement puts insurance companies on notice: My office will aggressively enforce mental health parity laws and fight to give patients the benefits they are legally entitled to – and which they pay for.” (click here for the full announcement)

 

The EDC applauds Attorney General Schneiderman for his aggressive approach to protecting the consumer and requiring insurance companies to follow state and federal parity laws.  May this set a precedent, for similar actions at the national level, now that Federal Parity is in effect and the regulations have been clarified. (click here for our more on the federal parity regulations). Eating disorders must be treated at parity with physical conditions. We are hopeful we will see more of these actions taken across the country.

 

For specifics on the case and why parity matters, please click here to visit the blog of one of our members Kantor & Kantor  here for more details: http://www.kantorlaw.net/Eating_Disorder_Blog/2014/January/Parity_Prevails_After_Cigna_Wrongfully_Denies_Me.aspx

EDC Spring Lobby Day is April 3!

 

The EDC is excited to announce our spring lobby day will be April 3! Mark the date on your calendar and start planning your travel for this exciting day. As usual, we’ll have a welcome reception on the evening before, April 2.

 

If you’ve never been to an EDC lobby day, please consider coming. It is an amazing opportunity to tell Members of Congress and their staff your story.  When you share how you have been touched by eating disorders it can be an incredibly empowering experience. You will make a difference. You will be able to influence eating disorders policy at the highest levels of our government. It’s also a wonderful opportunity to meet others who have walked this road, who share the burden of and triumph over eating disorders, and who are continuing to fight for better federal laws around eating disorders.

 

If you’ve been before, then come again. You know that successful lobbying takes persistence. We come. We come again. We come in larger and larger numbers to make our voice heard.  Reunite with old friends and colleagues, and meet new ones. Encourage those attending for the first time, and be encouraged by using your voice to empower yourself and others to make a difference.

 

Come to lobby day and make a difference!

Happy New Year!

 

As we wrap up 2013, we want to reflect on some of the highlights for us throughout the year. 2013  was a very successful year for the EDC, and we are particularly proud of these key accomplishments:

• The EDC urged Senators and Members of Congress to send Senate and House letters to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius urging parity for eating disorders. We are thrilled that HHS clarified the regulations in their final rule in a way that should increase access to care for people with eating disorders (such as clarifying equity in coverage for residential treatment).
• A new Request for Applications (RFA) was released in March as a result of EDC’s success in securing report language in the FY2013 Health and Human Services Appropriations bill.
• The EDC conducted a comprehensive survey of the Benchmark plans to be offered through the State Exchanges, and how eating disorders would be covered in each of the 50 states.
• We worked with House Champions to get the FREED Act introduced with 15 original cosponsors.
• We hosted two successful Lobby Days, including our most widely attended lobby day in EDC history. Both lobby days were supported with a virtual lobby day, and the advocacy events were live tweeted.
• We launched a state leader initiative to assist in the implementation of the state exchanges and improve our grassroots campaigns.
• We regularly meet with House and Senate staff on a variety of legislative priorities and advocate for the advance of federal eating disorders policy including:  FREED and the Mental Illness Awareness and   Prevention Act (S.689).
• We participated in a variety of coalition efforts including: supported Binge Eating Disorder Awareness Week with a comprehensive social media strategy, and participated in the efforts led by  BEDA and BingeBehavior.com to positively influence Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign
• We continued our goal of meeting with all 535 Congressional offices each year.

We hope 2013 has been a great year for you! We are looking forward to 2014, and are optimistic that the EDC will be able to accomplish even more in the coming year. Thank you for all of your support this past year.