Findings

Congress finds the following: (1) 28,800,000 individuals in the United Sates, or 9 percent of the national population, will have an eating disorder in their lifetime. It is estimated that 1,619,300 to 2,080,600 individuals on Medicare part B are affected by an eating disorder, including 420,500 to 560,700 beneficiaries who identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color. (2) 10,200 deaths per year in the United States occur as a direct result of an eating disorder, equating to 1 death every 52 minutes. Eating disorders have one of the highest mortality rates of all mental illness due to serious medical comorbidities such as stroke, diabetes, and gastric rupture, in addition to the fact that longitudinal studies have found that the suicide risk for those with an eating disorder is 23 times the expected risk. (3) Eating disorders can be successfully treated with care encompassing the 4 pillars of successful treatment: medical, psychiatric, therapy, and medical nutrition therapy. In general, Medicare provides some, but not all, care necessary for eating disorders treatment. It doesn’t cover medical nutrition therapy at the outpatient level and provides no coverage at the intensive outpatient or residential treatment levels. (4) Eating disorders are expensive. The yearly economic cost of eating disorders is $64,700,000,000, with families and individuals experiencing an economic loss of $23,500,000,000 per year. Each year, eating disorders are directly responsible for 23,560 inpatient hospitalizations costing $209,700,000 and 53,918 emergency room visits costing $29,300,000. (5) Eating disorders in the elderly are particularly serious because chronic disorders or diseases may already compromise a patient’s health and make a patient more prone to serious comorbidities associated with eating disorders, including cardiac, metabolic, gastric, and bone conditions. Early diagnosis and proper treatment of this population is essential.