The Foundation’s program for funding support for medical treatment
is critically needed because many children and adolescents with eating
disorders lack adequate health insurance and are not otherwise able
to afford adequate medical treatment. New research in neurobiology and
genetics has revealed that anorexia and bulimia are inherited (genetic)
conditions steered by powerful but poorly understood brain chemistry.
This understanding of the medical nature of eating disorders can help
family and friends understand what eating disordered children and teens
are up against. However, older, mistaken beliefs about eating disorders
prevail in the general population, the medical and the health insurance
communities.
Many people wrongly think that parents cause eating disorders, or that
children choose to have them. Some physicians still believe that eating
disorders are psychological in origin. Many health insurance companies
continue to classify eating disorders as mental health problems, so
medical insurance will not cover their treatment. And even families
whose benefits include some mental health coverage often find their
benefits for treatment of eating disorders are profoundly inadequate.
Eating disorders strike children without regard to economic background.
Families of modest means face considerable obstacles to obtaining appropriate
medical treatment for their eating disordered children. Significantly,
Oregon and Washington state public health coverage for treatment of
eating disorders is so marginal that many physicians who treat eating
disorders cannot accept such plans. The Kartini Foundation has taken
on the job of helping to provide funding for appropriate medical care
for all adolescents suffering from eating disorders, when their family’s
economic resources are otherwise lacking.
