When will Congress prioritize mental health in Medicare?

As Congress readies another budget reconciliation package this fall, I can’t help but see the huge investments that are being made to Medicare.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said on the Senate floor that the legislative package is the “most consequential piece of legislation for working people, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor since FDR and the New Deal of the 1930s.” The healthrelated provisions on the negotiating table for Medicare coverage includes dental, vision and hearing care.

I am happy to see Congress pushing for such critical investments for Americans and their families. However, I continue to be disappointed time

and again by the lack of similar investments within mental health — especially within the Medicare system. Up to 35% of Medicare beneficiaries have a mental illness, and yet we fail to prioritize them. As executive director and founder of the Eating Disorders Resource Center, I have made it my life’s work to create awareness, promote recovery and advocate for the treatment of eating disorders. Similar to problems related to dental, vision and hearing, eating disorders do not discriminate and can impact any individual no matter what their age or status.

Eating disorder rates among Medicare beneficiaries are the same as the general population, which is contrary to the popular belief that assumes EDs happen in younger, able-bodied people. Further, this mental illness impacts 28.8 million Americans, with one life lost to an eating disorder every 52 minutes. Distressingly, 78% of anorexiarelated deaths occur in the elderly. This makes eating disorders among the highest fatality rates of any psychiatric illness. Without early invention and access to comprehensive treatment, many Americans are left with no other option than to have their illness progress until they’re admitted to the emergency room or inpatient treatment facility. The extreme barriers to care result in eating disorders costing the United States $64.7 billion each year, with the federal government shouldering $17.7 billion. We can do better.

Currently, Medicare does not cover residential, partial hospitalization outside of a hospital or intensive outpatient treatment for eating disorders. It also fails to cover outpatient dietitian services or even an assessment from an eating-disorders specialist. Research shows that nutritional therapy is not only an essential component for the treatment of eating disorders, but if these underlying nutritional issues also are not addressed, recovery can be severely impeded.

As Congress pushes to expand Medicare, I urge members of Congress to remember the 35% of Medicare beneficiaries with mental illnesses that are consistently left behind. One way Congress can collectively support individuals and families suffering from eating disorders is to advance the bipartisan, bicameral Nutrition CARE Act (HR 1551/S. 584), which would finally provide Medicare coverage for outpatient dietitian services for individuals with eating disorders. We can no longer wait.