ANAD Advocates Meet With Staffs of Six Congressional Leaders

Hi all,

Check out the cool things ANAD has been up to lately. The article below is from the www.anad.org homepage:



ANAD Advocates Meet With Staffs of Six Congressional Leaders

source: www.anad.org

Representatives from ANAD visited Capitol Hill recently for a series of meetings with the staffs of six members of Congress.

The group led by Mary J. Elsner, JD, ANAD's Director of Advocacy and Government Affairs met with the offices of Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), Barack Obama (D-IL) and Representatives Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL).

Elsner said the purpose of the meetings was to “draw attention to the growing need for federal funding for education about eating disorders and also emphasized ANAD's ongoing support for The Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007, H.R. 1424. “

In addition to Elsner, members of the ANAD team included: Ron George, a member of the Board of Directors of ANAD of Virginia whose daughter, Leslie, lost her battle with an eating disorder several years ago; Gail Kennedy, a co-leader of the ANAD of Washington, D.C. support group; and Jeffrey Lewis, an ANAD pro bono attorney who is affiliated with the Washington, D.C. law office of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, LLP.

The Advocacy team provided information on 'ANAD's School Guidelines' and discussed the fact that anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder affect an estimated eight million Americans, many of them students in the nation's middle schools, high schools, and colleges.

During the advocacy meetings, the critical need for increased health education regarding eating disorders in our nation's schools was discussed at length. The importance of early education and intervention also served as a major talking point of these visits.

ANAD's representatives inWashington, D.C. also reviewed the dire need for insurance parity for individuals seeking inpatient and outpatient treatment for eating disorders and stressed the fact that the enactment of federal mental health parity legislation can make the difference between life and death for a sufferer.

The advocates discussed the hundreds of calls and e-mails ANAD receives from individuals and families who have little or no health insurance coverage for treatment of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder.

ANAD believes that the mental health parity bill currently pending in the House of Representatives offers greater protection than a similar bill introduced in the Senate.

During the visit, the group also had dinner with Millie Plotkin, the head of 'Voices Not Bodies,' a Washington, D.C. ANAD affiliate, and Katie Johnson, Gail Kennedy and Sarah Mashburn, active members of ANAD of Washington D.C