A Successful Lobby Day!

Thank you to all who came out for our lobby day last week. It was a wonderful success! We had over 100 participants who took the message of the FREED Act and parity for eating disorders coverage to the Hill. 

The day started with message training, which really helped all of the teams prepare for the meetings. Then off we went to the halls of Congress armed with a powerful message, that the federal government has the power to dramatically reduce eating disorders, and to ensure that people with eating disorders receive the treatment they need. 

The Congressional briefing at midday was wonderful. Representative Ted Deutch of Florida, gave a powerful speech. We are so grateful and excited that he has agreed to sponsor the FREED Act and be a champion for those with eating disorders. He is a powerful ally in the fight to end eating disorders. A special thanks to all of our speakers: Johanna Kandel, Jillian Lampert, Holly Merbaum, Kitty Westin, Jaye Azoff, and Jeanine Cogan. 

Our teams met with House and Senate offices throughout the day. Because of these meetings, we were able to educate offices on eating disorders, gain new sponsors for FREED, forge new partnerships, and build relationships with Congress.  

   

In addition to meeting with our representatives in person, many of you helped with our virtual lobby day campaign. This was an amazing support; many Members were already familiar with the FREED Act, because of what you did. 

But the work doesn’t end with lobby day. In fact, in many ways, we are working even harder on the Hill to capitalize on the important work done last week.  EDC will continue to advocate and educate on the Hill, we will be following up with the Congressional offices, building on the powerful foundation laid during lobby day. We will continue working to get FREED passed to get parity for eating disorders coverage. 

Let’s keep the momentum going and please save the date-- our Fall lobby day is September 18, let’s make that one even better!

To see more pictures of Lobby day, check out our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/EatingDisordersCoalition