The 70+ advocates that came to Washington DC last week for our lobby day did a fabulous job bringing attention to eating disorders and the need for federal policy. We visited 48 different offices from 14 different states.
Our message to Members of Congress was twofold. 1) Make sure that any health care reform bill that passes in Congress this year includes coverage for eating disorder treatment, and 2) support the Federal Response to Eliminate Eating Disorders Act (the FREED Act).
The tangible results so far are that we have 2 new FREEED cosponsors (Carolyn Maloney (NY) and Keith Ellison (MN)). Plus we got some commitment from our champion Congressman Patrick Kennedy and others to work with us on ways to ensure eating disorders treatment is included in health care reform. We will pursue those leads and see where it takes us. As you can see we are at the table and making our impact known
Thank you to all who came here and made such a difference! Let's set our sights for our biggest lobby day yet in the Spring. Wouldn't it be fabulous to have people from every state next time? Thanks for your commitment to the EDC and to bringing federal attention to eating disorders! This is how bills get passed.
....from the Hill, Jeanine Cogan, Policy Director
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