Current standards do not seem to be very helping, it has been observed. Many a times it has been seen that most of the people suffering from eating disorders do not end up getting the coverage they require, and why, because there is a huge discrepancy in the meanings of different eating disorder and when one officially qualifies as suffering from a disorder which can not only wreck havoc to the body, but also to the mind and might even end up killing the sufferer.

Alright, picture this for a minute, a woman currently weighs just about 75% of the normal weight that she should be. She is definitely anorexic, that we know, and when officially hospitalized, she was actually a mere two-thirds of the normal body weight. But because her insurance company has a very narrow definition of anorexia, at a 75% of body weight she does not qualify for in-patient care.

Also, because of the same insurance company guidelines, the women might end up getting discharged much before her doctor's treatment plan would be over. All thanks to the health care guidelines for diagnosis of mental disorders, this highly dangerous situation has been faced by millions of Americans suffering from eating disorders.

So do we still need to point out why insurance companies need to work on their policies? Of course there needs to be some revision and there should be better coverage offered to patients suffering from eating disorders.

A recent study has revealed that over 60% of people who are labeled as suffering from Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, as per the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, meet criteria for hospitalization, and not all of them were medically covered.

Some instant actions need to be taken because as long as definitions of bulimia and anorexia continue to remain narrow, people will continue to suffer.