Mary Curtis is now a healthy 50-year-old who considers herself spiritual and likes to volunteer in her free time. But years ago, the South Florida resident was in the midst of a battle with bulimia, sometimes binge eating up to 20 times a day. 

It has taken eight years of treatment to regain control over her life and recover. 

“Once I started treating the eating disorder, then the real issues started to focus,” she said. 

She says she couldn’t have done that without health insurance coverage. 

“I would never have had the finances to get the kind of treatment that I needed,” she said. 

But medical experts say health insurance companies are discriminating against people with eating disorders by limiting or denying them coverage. Several health insurance companies contacted stated that the benefits are customized according to what each plan offers. They also said they do offer coverage for eating disorders but wouldn’t give specific details. 

Gayle Brooks is clinical director at The Renfrew Center in Coconut Creek, which treats people with eating disorders and has also treated Curtis. 

Brooks said that, sadly, some insurance companies limit and sometimes, even withhold, coverage from patients even though this is illegal. 

“The insurance companies are really looking to have the patient in the lowest level of care possible,” Brooks said.        

One example is Janelle Smith from San Diego, Calif. She died in 2007 after struggling with anorexia. She weighed only 80 pounds when she died, and her family blames their health insurance company for limiting her coverage for a hospital stay. 

Brooks said insurance companies often don’t understand eating disorders, but both anorexia and bulimia are very serious diseases that can affect both physical and mental health. If they are left untreated and given inadequate care, they can also be fatal, she said. 

Insurance companies will give approval for a few days of treatment at a time. Some companies give approval for only one or two days, so the request has to constantly be renewed, Brooks said. 

“Once they get discharged, they end up relapsing and the disorder becomes much more chronic for them and in the long run it’s more expensive to treat,” she said. 

The Renfrew Center works with about 100 insurance companies and still finds that about 60 percent of its patients have to pay out-of-pocket expenses to make up for the limited coverage. 

“To deny that help is shameful,” Curtis said.