Great News for People w/ED but w/No Insurance!

GREAT NEWS FOR PEOPLE WITH EATING DISORDERS WITHOUT INSURANCE! COVERAGE IS AVAILABLE IF YOU QUALIFY

If you do not have insurance because of a pre-existing illness - you can now apply for insurance that would cover eating disorder treatment. READ MORE!

The EDC is collaborating with the Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at the Department of Health and Human Services on the successful implementation of the health care reform law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). We want to connect people suffering from eating disorders who meet the eligibility requirements to a new insurance.

One provision of the ACA that is now in effect and has promise for people with eating disorders is the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP). The PCIP was created to make health insurance available to those who have been denied insurance due to a pre-existing condition. The Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan:

* Offers coverage of mental health services including eating disorders as a required benefit.
* Will cover a broad range of health benefits, including primary and specialty care, hospital care, in and out-patient services, and residential treatment.
* Doesn’t charge you a higher premium just because of your medical condition.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

To be eligible for the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP):

1. You must be a citizen or national of the United States or lawfully present in the United States.

2. You must have been uninsured for at least the last six months.

3. You must have had a problem getting insurance due to a pre-existing condition.

To be approved, you must submit a complete application with all required documentation, including proof of citizenship and a copy of a health insurance denial notification dated within the last six months.

Some states are running their own PCIP while the others are run by the federal government. ALL PCIP’s are required through regulation to cover eating disorders as part of the mental health benefit. However, the state run programs have the option to put a lifetime cap on mental health services for PCIP enrollees. This will vary state by state. In addition, the scope of coverage for the mental health benefit varies by state.

Under the federal-run program, there is not an option to cap the mental health benefit. The following states are the federally run programs:

Alabama | Arizona | D.C. | Delaware | Florida | Georgia | Hawaii | Idaho | Indiana | Kentucky | Louisiana | Massachusetts | Minnesota | Mississippi | North Dakota | Nebraska | Nevada | South Carolina | Tennessee | Texas | Vermont | Virginia | West Virginia | Wyoming

For more information, rates, and application for the federal-run programs go to the Health and Human Services website at www.pcip.gov.

To apply for a state-run program go to: www.healthcare.gov and click on your state. At that point, state-specific contact information and coverage information (including rates) will appear.

Jeanine Cogan, Ph.D. Policy Director

Exciting Announcement re: Office of the First Lady & Eating Disorders

Below is a very exciting email announcement that EDC Policy Director, Jeanine Cogan, sent to the organizations who supported the letter to the Office of the First Lady addressing Eating Disorders. ~


Dear Friends,

Thank you again for supporting the EDC's work with Congress to influence Michelle Obama's campaign on childhood obesity. The Congressional letter urging the "Let's Move" campaign to expand its message to also address eating disorders was signed by 35 Members of Congress and had the support of 30 organizations. Most bills in Congress do not even have 35 cosponsors nor do they have so much active support by organizations, so this is an accomplishment.

And the letter had impact. We are happy to inform you that Congressman Alcee Hastings' office - who initiated this letter - received a response from the Office of the First Lady that the "Let's Move!" campaign would be adding eating disorder information in selected places on the "Let's Move!" web site, and that they would expand their message to include information about eating disorders as appropriate.

The web changes are currently in process (though not up yet). The EDC will continue to work with Congressman Hastings' office and hope to further influence this process.

As a field we have a long way to go to ensure that eating disorders are taken seriously, addressed appropriately, and understood. Thank you for the work you and your organization does to reach these goals. Efforts like this letter make a difference. Every success moves us forward! Thank you for endorsing it!

See a copy of the delivered letter below.

In gratitude,


Jeanine Cogan, Ph.D.
Policy Director
Eating Disorders Coalition
www.eatingdisorderscoalition.org
202-352-3208



July 21, 2010

The First Lady of the United States
The White House
441 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear First Lady Michelle Obama,

Thank you for championing the health and welfare of our nation’s children through the Let’s Move Campaign. Let’s Move has brought historic attention to the importance of addressing one the most serious public health concerns of today. Although we applaud that you mentioned eating disorders during a recent Let’s Move event, we believe that broadening Let’s Move’s focus to include information about eating disorders would enhance the campaign’s mission to improve the mental and physical health of all children.

We understand that obesity and eating disorders have distinct health impacts, and believe that the prevalence of these disorders indicates the need for comprehensive and well-coordinated interventions that support healthier habits and environments. Like obesity, unhealthy weight loss measures, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating and eating disorders not otherwise specified (EDNOS) have increased significantly over the past few decades. In fact, more than 11 million men, women and children suffer from an eating disorder in the United States.

In a speech that publicly introduced the Let’s Move Campaign, you stated that unhealthy diets and habits can negatively influence physical, emotional and educational development and well-being. Eating disorders are no exception. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that undernourishment impacts a student’s ability to excel academically, and suicide, anxiety and depression are more common in people with eating disorders. Eating disorders also have the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses, and can result in long-term health issues including heart and kidney failure, cognitive impairment, muscle atrophy and sudden death.

Like obesity, eating disorders afflict children of different ages, genders, economic backgrounds, and ethnicities. At least 30-40 percent of junior high students have reported dieting, over half of high-school girls have reported dieting, and 25 percent of bulimia and anorexia cases are men. What’s more, student athletes can be especially vulnerable to eating disorders because some adopt unhealthy dietary restrictions and weight loss methods to achieve or maintain a certain weight for competition. Many obese individuals resort to unhealthy weight loss tactics and may develop eating disorders in an attempt to achieve a desired weight or body image.
Strong environmental, cultural, social factors have contributed to the high rates of obesity and eating disorders in the United States. Stigma, blame and misinformation often accompany these conditions. Coordinated efforts among educators, elected officials, parents, community leaders and young people are crucial to executing sustainable solutions to these public health problems. We believe that the Let’s Move Campaign’s mission is compatible with messages and interventions that are designed to address eating disorders.

Educators could incorporate information about unhealthy dieting when providing information about healthy food choices. Speeches and parental toolkits could include information about risks, signs and support networks for eating disorders. Let’s Move programs could be designed to teach children to respect body size diversity, promote self esteem, and support body satisfaction. And, the Let’s Move Web site could include a link to the Office of Women’s Health Web site which has comprehensive and evidence based information on eating disorders.

The unprecedented leadership in the battle against obesity through the Let’s Move Campaign shows your commitment to creatively and aggressively improving the health of children, families and communities. We hope that you will take our suggestions into consideration so that the Let’s Move Campaign can take a more holistic approach to addressing the full spectrum of behaviors that are compromising the health of America’s children.

Sincerely,

Alcee L. Hastings and 34 Members of Congress as listed below:

Signees (34): Reprentatives Arcuri, Baldwin, Bishop (GA), Capps, Christensen, Conyers, Courtney, Deutch, Djou, Edwards (MD), Frank, Franks, Ellison, Grijalva, Hodes, Holden, Kennedy, Kildee, Kilpatrick, Langevin, Loebsack, Meek (FL), Maloney, Myrick, Napolitano, Norton, Pascrell, Price (NC), Roe (TN), Shea-Porter, Schwartz, Towns, Wasserman Schultz, and Watson

This letter is supported by the following organizations (30): Alliance for Eating Disorders, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Academy for Eating Disorders, A Chance to Heal, American Dance Therapy Association, American Group Psychotherapy Association, Anxiety Disorders Association of America, Avalon Hills Residential Eating Disorder Programs, Binge Eating Disorders Association, Cedar Associates, Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt, Clinical Social Work Association, Eating Disorders Coalition, EDReferral.com, The Emily Program, F.E.A.S.T., Gail R. Schoenbach FREED Foundation, Gurze Books, Maudsley Parents, Mental Health America, MentorCONNECT, Monte Nido Treatment Center, Multi-Services Eating Disorder Association, National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Eating Disorders, National Eating Disorders Association, Pennsylvania Education Network for Eating Disorders, Renfrew Center, School Social Work Association of America, The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness, and The Emily Program Foundation

Highlights from September's Congressional Briefing

"I've been to every single EDC Congressional Briefing, and this was the best one yet!" ~ That is one of the many compliments we received for September's Congressional Briefing, "The Federal Response to Eliminate Eating Disorders Act: How Congress Will Save Lives By Passing this Bill" hosted by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA). The room was packed with standing room only. EDC Advocates in the audience reported that the Congressional staffers presented were "moved" and "took vigorous notes" throughout the briefing. This is impressive because Congress was set to depart the Hill that very day --yet these staffers made time to attend the EDC's briefing to learn more about the FREED Act.

The first speaker of the afternoon was Jillian Croll, PhD, RD, MPH, Director, Communications, Outreach, and Research of The Emily Program. Her talk was titled, "Expanding our Understanding of Eating Disorders through Research". Dr. Croll highlighted the need for expanded research funding and opportunities. "Clearly, there is much more to know about eating disorders. Finding solutions to these challenges is imperative. Some of the things we don’t know about eating disorders are severely impacting, and killing, people.” Dr. Croll described the personal impact that the FREED Act's research section will have on families and individuals affected by eating disorders when she told the story of "Julie". "Julie was a kind and gentle person; a therapist who worked with young people; with a gift for connecting with people. She was closely connected to her mom, dad, sister and brother-in-law. Julie died on January 7, 2010, at the age of 31, after a 7 year battle with an eating disorder." Dr. Croll continued, "At a lunch with her parents last week, I was struck by how many barriers they and Julie faced in the pursuit of care for her eating disorder. Uninformed physicians, difficulty accessing treatment due to lack of specialized care, and insufficient and ineffective treatment when she was finally able to access something. ...We must identify even more effective methods of treating eating disorders and find the most efficient and practical ways to provide those treatments. Furthermore, we need to make it easier for individuals with eating disorders and their families to find reputable and effective treatments." Dr. Croll closed her speech with a very powerful message: " Passing the FREED Act is a tangible, viable step towards greater understanding and action that will yield life-improving and life-saving results. Every step we take towards knowing more helps us to prevent more unnecessary, intolerable losses like Julie and her family have had to endure."

The second speaker was Wendy Oliver-Pyatt, MD, FAED, CED, Founder and Executive Director of Oliver-Pyatt Centers. Dr. Oliver-Pyatt 's talk was entitled "How Obesity Prevention Can Trigger Eating Disorders: Why We Need to Address Both in Tandem". The central message of her speech was, “It is important that special care be taken in the construction and implementation of “obesity prevention” programs to minimize any harm that might result.” Dr. Oliver-Pyatt discussed the widely-accepted recommendations made by the Academy of Eating Disorders in relation to obesity prevention, such as: “Interventions should focus on health, not weight…” and, “It is unrealistic to expect all children to fit into the “normal weight” category. Thus, interventions should not be marketed as “obesity prevention.” Rather, interventions should be referred to as “health promotion…” Dr. Oliver-Pyatt concluded by saying, “We need to implement a plan that is scientifically driven, and that will not cause harm.”

Chevese Turner, Founder and CEO of the Binge Eating Disorder Association, spoke next. Her talk titled, “Bringing Binge Eating Disorder into the Light: A Personal Perspective” held a captive audience as she candidly shared her struggles with BED –Binge Eating Disorder. Ms. Tuner highlighted the connection between BED and Obesity, “Binge eating disorder represents the greatest number of individuals with an eating disorder. In fact, 1 in every 35 US adults is affected and 70% of those with the disorder are considered overweight or obese.” In closing, Ms. Turner spoke of the “joy” that she discovered when she received proper treatment. “After several years, I once again sought treatment. My new therapist diagnosed me with “binge eating disorder.” I cannot convey the liberation I felt. The distress and preoccupation with food actually had a name. I realize this is difficult to believe, but I was overjoyed! It meant I was not alone and there were others who were struggling. It also meant, for me, that I could address my issues without guilt and shame. Responsibility for the disorder now belonged to me and I felt relief.”

I was the last speaker at the briefing. I spoke about my role as the Education and Prevention Coordinator for the Gail R. Schoenbach F.R.E.E.D. Foundation. In this capacity, I serve as a patient advocate. To illustrate the need for the patient advocacy piece of the FREED Act, I shared three stories of young woman who lost their lives due to lack of proper treatment and/or coverage of their eating disorder. I asked the audience to consider how the outcome for these young women might have been different had they had a Patient Advocate. “I want you to consider what you think might have been different if Nicole (Boice) had had a Patient Advocate. I firmly believe that Nicole would not have suffered as she did. I believe that the doctors would NOT have dismissed Nicole’s chest pain. I believe that Nicole’s insurance company would have authorized the life-saving treatment that Nicole was begging for. And as a result of having a better trained and fully funded Patient Advocate, I believe that Nicole, my dear friend, would not have died in her sleep just one night before she was supposed to leave to be here on the Hill, lobbying by my side for the FREED Act last April 27, 2010. I believe that Nicole’s family would not have had bury their beloved Nikki on April 30, 2010 –just three days after she was supposed to be alive and well on the Hill like all of you (at our April Lobby Day)”.

Jeanine Cogan, Ph.D., Policy Director for the EDC, wrapped up the briefing by inviting questions from both Staffers and audience members, and summarizing why the FREED Act needs to pass sooner rather than later, so that more lives are not senselessly lost. The briefing proved an informative and powerful ending to the EDC's September Lobby Day.

To read the speeches from the briefing, please visit the EDC homepage and click on the link.

Another Success for the EDC and the Field:

Representatives Kennedy and Baldwin Write Letter to HHS Supporting Eating Disorders Treatment

A letter was sent by Representatives Kennedy and Baldwin urging Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of HHS, to require coverage for eating disorders treatment as part of the health care reform act that passed into law. 

People with mental illness more broadly and eating disorders specifically will benefit from expanded insurance access and treatment coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PL111-148) signed into law by President Obama in March 2010.  The primary insurance overhaul measure includes benefits for people with mental illness who have lacked insurance coverage or whose insurance omitted or sharply limited coverage for mental illness treatment.  Provisions require

• insurers to offer and renew insurance coverage for all who apply (no more denials for people with pre-existing illnesses);
• prohibit health insurers from canceling coverage;
• specify that premium rates in the individual and small-group market can vary only on the basis of tobacco use, age, family composition, and state-defined geographic rating areas;
• allow adult children to remain on their parents' health policies until they turn 27 if they do not have access to a policy on their own.
• HHS to identify high risk pools and to provide temporary coverage for people who have been denied insurance for preexisting conditions until the ban on insurance denials begins in four years.

A key component of the legislation requires new state health insurance exchanges that will serve as a marketplace to assist uninsured individuals and small employers in purchasing private health plans. All plans in the exchanges must offer the same minimum benefits package, which must include mental health services and substance use treatment. The law did not require any specific mental illnesses be covered. Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of HHS, is responsible for the implementation of this law.

The EDC has been working with Congress to make sure HHS includes eating disorders as part of the minimum benefits package.  Representatives Kennedy and Baldwin's letter to is one of the concrete outcomes of these efforts.

Click below to view the letter:
http://www.eatingdisorderscoalition.org/documents/SebeliusEDltr.pdf

Jeanine Cogan, Ph.D., Policy Director
Eating Disorders Coalition
www.eatingdisorderscoalition.org

Visions of a new frontier | Rhode Island news | projo.com | The Providence Journal

Visions of a new frontier | Rhode Island news | projo.com | The Providence Journal

Visions of a new frontier

01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, October 3, 2010

By JOHN E. MULLIGAN

Journal Washington Bureau

Congressman Patrick Kennedy likens his cause to his uncle’s ‘moon-shot’ speech and says the brain is “the new frontier.”

The Providence Journal / Connie Grosch

WASHINGTON — Four weeks from Tuesday will be a milestone of sorts for the country.

It will be the first federal Election Day since 1944 — when Lt. John F. Kennedy was in his final weeks of Navy service — that has not featured a member of the famed political family on a ballot or seated in constitutional office.

For retiring Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy, it will be the first time in years he won’t have to worry about being reelected. The Rhode Island Democrat will also be focused on another milestone just a few days beyond. On Nov. 7, Patrick and Caroline Kennedy will mark the 50th anniversary of her father’s final campaign event, a stump speech at the steps of Providence City Hall on the night before he was elected president.

“Here’s the circle for me,” said Patrick Kennedy. “It’s like 40 years of public life that I’m getting out of this year. The last stop that JFK came to was in my district, and the synergy for me is being able to honor his victory.

“What drove a lot of Americans into service to our country — the Peace Corps, the military, public service of all kinds — is what drove me into service, the legacy of asking, as he put it in his inaugural, what I could do.”

What Patrick Kennedy wants to do for the country in private life is expand his signature issue of mental health to encompass “the signature wound,” as he calls it, of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Kennedy said the next “New Frontier” is medical — the full panoply of neurological maladies from battle-inflicted traumatic brain injury and posttraumatic stress disorder to illnesses such as depression, addiction, dementia, and more.

To tackle them he envisions an initiative that he likens to President Kennedy’s space program.

The 43-year-old Kennedy can speak of 40 years in public life because he was a toddler when his father ran his third race for the Senate. Edward M. Kennedy all but inherited his brother Jack’s old Senate seat, first winning it in 1962 upon crossing the constitutional threshold of his 30th birthday.

Patrick Kennedy had just turned 21 — old enough to vote — when he picked up the family mantle to run for the state House of Representatives. That memorable campaign brought better-known Kennedys, including cousin Caroline, to stump across Mount Pleasant for the self-effacing Providence College undergraduate. It was 22 years ago this fall.

Kennedys had been in this line of work for more than a century, starting with Patrick’s great-grandfather and namesake, a successful East Boston liquor importer, state legislator and ward boss. His maternal great-grandfather, John F. Fitzgerald, was the first Irish-Catholic mayor of Boston. His uncle, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was a young war hero when he began the modern dynasty with the first of his three successful campaigns for the U.S. House in 1948.

In 1952, Jack Kennedy won the Senate seat that would remain in Kennedy hands for 56 years, if you count the brief custody of a family friend from 1961, when JFK became president, until Ted could run in 1962. Two years later, Robert F. Kennedy was elected to the Senate from New York. In 1986, Robert’s son, Joseph P. Kennedy II, won the first of his six U.S. House terms, in the redistricted version of his uncle Jack’s old seat, spanning parts of Boston and Cambridge.

Cousin Patrick, born after President Kennedy’s assassination and less than a year before Robert Kennedy’s, took up the family trade two years later.

“It was the family ethic,” Kennedy recalled last week, including the tug of his late uncle’s exhortation, “ask not what your country can do for you.”

After three terms in the General Assembly, he won an open congressional seat in 1994 to become one of a handful of Democrats elected against the historic wave that put the GOP in charge of the House for the first time in half a century. Kennedy’s race against Republican Dr. Kevin Vigilante was one of the most entertaining congressional races in modern Rhode Island memory. It was also Kennedy’s toughest race on the way to establishing a family record that even his father, who died in August 2009, could not match: 11 victories in election campaigns, three for the General Assembly seat, eight in the 1st Congressional District.

Winning elections, of course, has not proved to be Kennedy’s toughest challenge.

From his earliest days in office, he recalled last week, “I came in here trying to hide and to keep the challenge I was facing every day down to a low murmur, to try to fight the shame of suffering from neurological disorders.” That is the term he has come to use for the bipolar illness, alcoholism and drug abuse that have plagued him through his adult life.

Kennedy chose to go public with his mental illness during the late 1990s when Tipper Gore addressed a Rhode Island audience on the issue. His struggles with drugs and drinking hit the front page with a highly publicized auto accident in spring 1996.

Since then, in what he says is “kind of like a serendipitous turn,” Kennedy has become one of the nation’s best-known faces of recovery from mental illness and addiction, telling his story to help lessen the stigma for others and — in his principal achievement as a legislator — sponsoring a 2008 law to put mental illness on an equal insurance footing with other ailments.

For much of the succeeding two years, a time that encompassed his father’s death and his decision last winter not to seek reelection, Kennedy has moved toward what he hints will be the cause of his life after politics. It is nothing less ambitious than breaking down what he depicts as the artificial wall between mental and physical illness.

Kennedy puts “our American heroes,” the war veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, at the center of that campaign, which he expects to touch on during the John F. Kennedy memorial in Providence next month.

Kennedy makes the case that medical science is rapidly unlocking the secrets that will bridge the worlds of traditional medicine and mental health — mainly through the kind of neuroscientific research that pinpoints the brain chemistry behind addiction, depression and other ailments viewed not so long ago as character flaws.

Politically, Kennedy makes the case that the stigma attached to mental illness is a civil-rights issue akin to racial prejudice.

And as a practical matter, Kennedy portrays the plight of the brain-injured soldier as a tragedy of these times, but also an opportunity for rallying the public to a great nonpartisan cause. “One brain, one mind” is among the slogans that he uses to preface his argument that a crash research program — initially aimed at treating veterans afflicted with traumatic brain injuries and posttraumatic stress disorder — can eventually help millions.

The congressman envisions a time when research yields genetic markers as keys to the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, addiction, multiple sclerosis, dementia, depression — a host of illnesses no longer segregated as “medical” or “mental.”

Kennedy plans to write a book that uses his personal story to draw attention to the promise of treatment and research. And he foresees many ways to echo his late uncle’s clarion call to service — at congressional hearings, at next month’s memorial on Kennedy Plaza and beyond.

The brain “is the last frontier,” said Kennedy. “It’s the new frontier, but we’re not going to outer space. We’re coming to inner space” to make neurological breakthroughs comparable to the engineering breakthroughs of President Kennedy’s space program, he declared.

“We’re going to need that same ethic that JFK put forward in his ‘moon-shot’ speech; that we’re going to do this before the decade is out. We’re going to get this done because we’re Americans. We’re in it to win it.”

jmulligan@belo-dc.com

One year anniversary of the passage of health care reform

Today is the one year anniversary of the passage of health care reform. See the below article from NAMI that hightlights changes that go into effect today.

First Wave of Insurance Reforms To Go Into Effect
Sept. 23, 2010

Today, the first set of consumer protections for health insurance included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (federal health care reform) will go into effect. These protections include:

* Prohibiting denials or limits on coverage or benefits for children under age 19 who have a pre-existing condition. This will benefit children living with mental illness who are covered by their parent's plan.

* Prohibiting lifetime dollar limits on most health insurance benefits, including mental health benefits, in all policies issued or renewed after Sept. 23, 2010. This will help protect enrollees, particularly those who experience multiple hospitalizations or have chronic and intensive mental health care needs.

* Extending dependent coverage for adult children up to age 26 in all individual and group health insurance policies. This will make it possible for young adults--at a time when many first experience mental illness--to be covered under a parent's plan.

* Bans on cancelling ("rescinding") insurance coverage due to honest mistakes or omissions in insurance applications. Insurance companies will have to prove fraud to justify cancelling insurance policies.

* New rights to appeal adverse insurance decisions, such as denials of care. For most plans, plan holders must be provided a copy of the rationale for any denial of coverage and, importantly, there will now be an independent external appeals process in all states and for most plans.

Additionally, many plans will now offer certain preventive services, dependent on age, with no cost-sharing or deductible. For example, individuals will now be covered for blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol tests.

To find out more about these and other insurance reforms going into effect today, visitwww.healthcare.gov<http://capwiz.com/nami/utr/1/BUKWNFKIZG/EKUZNFMRLS/5824027916> .

The federal health reform law contains many other provisions that will make an impact on health and mental health care. These changes will be implemented over the course of the next few years. For a list and timetable of these changes, go to healthreform.kff.org <http://capwiz.com/nami/utr/1/BUKWNFKIZG/JGEUNFMRLT/5824027916>

A series of federal rules have been issued on topics such as preventive services in health care reform, procedures for appealing denials of services and other important topics. To see NAMI's comments on these rules and for more information about how health care reform will impact individuals living with mental illness, visit NAMI's special website on health care reform,www.nami.org/healthcare<http://capwiz.com/nami/utr/1/BUKWNFKIZG/GPNCNFMRLU/5824027916> .

Day on Capitol Hill,

September 29th & 30th

Register Now!

	Get active! Capitol Hill is the place for eating disorder advocacy this Fall! The Eating Disorders Coalition is hosting its second Lobby Day and Congressional Briefing of 2010.
EDC Members with Senator Tom Harkin introducing the FREED Act in the Senate, April, 2010
Join us as we advocate for the FREED Act, which is the first eating disorders legislation to comprehensively promote research, treatment, education, and prevention programs. Also - come say thank you and good-bye to our champion in the House, Congressman Patrick Kennedy, at our reception on Wednesday evening. Click here for more details

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR

SEPTEMBER 2010 LOBBY DAY

Those who register after 9/22 will be added to an already existing lobby team and we can not ensure that you will be meeting with your state representatives