Family death leads to legislative fight
Feb 23, 2010, 9:02 AM
By TERRAH BAKER Digitalburg
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| Laura Culp died in 2009 after a 13-year-battle with anorexia. (Photo submitted by John Culp) |
This could be a setback for John Culp, program development and retention coordinator for student athletes at the University of Central Missouri, and many other Missourians who have been fighting for better health care coverage and education programs dealing with eating disorders.
The Bill
To spread knowledge, awareness and education about eating disorders around the state, Culp and his allies have taken their battle to Missouri's legislature.
"What we're trying to do is get [the bill] under the mental health division in Missouri," Culp said. "We use the word mission. We will go back every year to get this passed."
Culp's daughter, Laura Culp, 31, died May 2, 2009, from a heart attack after a 13-year-battle with anorexia. Culp said after her death, he kept asking himself what more he could've done while she was still alive. One thing that may have changed the outcome of Laura's disease, Culp said, was being able to recognize the beginning stages of eating disorders.
"It started her senior year in the springtime, and very truthfully, I had no training in looking for eating disorders. And it sounds bad because I'm a P.E. teacher and coach, and I didn't know what the early signs were," Culp said.
They are pushing Bills 1733 in the Missouri House of Representatives and 744 in the Missouri Senate that would mandate health insurance companies to provide longer in-patient stays for sufferers of eating disorders.
Joining him on the front lines are Annie Seal, a woman Culp said has been an inspiration to him and who has a daughter who has struggled with an eating disorder; Miss Missouri 2010 Tara Osseck, who made her platform eating disorder awareness after watching her roommate battle anorexia; and Miss Springfield 2010 Jessica Sullivan, who personally dealt with an eating disorder; along with several legislators, including local State Sen. David Pearce.
Pearce has sponsored the bill in the Senate, and as a close friend of Culp, has become an advocate for the passing of the bills and their importance to the state of Missouri.
"I became involved in this issue due to the impact of the Culp family. John and Sandy Culp lost their daughter, Laura, to an eating disorder disease in 2009. I had known Laura her entire life and watched her grow up. It was sad to see the family go through such an ordeal together. The legislation is designed to make sure families don’t go through the same thing the Culps experienced," Pearce said.
Research listed in support of the bill states that "Insurance companies routinely limit the number of days they will reimburse for treatment of eating disorders. This forces doctors to discharge patients with eating disorders too early and without the support needed to continue recovery, according to supporters of the bill.
"What we find in this disease, if you can get it at the start, you have a chance to help that person, Culp said. "It starts out as a mental illness and if you don't solve the mental, then it goes to the medical. What we're trying to do is to get all students and citizens in the state of Missouri to understand; you've got the body image [issues], you look at the models and all the beautiful people, and something goes off in the brain and body imaging that [they] look too fat."
Health Coverage
According to the organization National Eating Disorder Awareness (NEDA), an estimated 250,000 Missourians suffer from eating disorders each year, and the mortality rate for eating disorders is up to 20 percent. But opponents of mandating coverage have their own numbers.
"The problem is that we have 700,000 Missourians out of around 5 million Missourians that do not have access to health insurance. Overtime, we have a mandate that adds to the cost of premiums and it makes people drop their premiums. We know it's a terrible disease, but it's very difficult to mandate something and it increases costs," Blue Cross' Wiethop said.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield, like all other insurance companies in Missouri, is already mandated to cover mental illnesses, which receive a different type of coverage than that of physical illnesses, usually with less reimbursement. The new bills would allow eating disorders to receive as much coverage as a physical illness.
Laura and Culp had Blue Cross and Blue Shield when she was dealing with her illness and received what the bill supporters are referring to as minimal and an insufficient amount of coverage.
"Forty to 60 days would be something that [patients] need to do where a lot of insurance companies, 12 to 15 days is normally what they let you stay. We experienced that with Laura," Culp said.
Culp said he knew along with getting through the legislative process, the hardest trial would be getting insurance companies to agree to the mandates. Wiethop said there's good reason for that.
"Right now, probably the reason [Culp] is working with legislators is that they would like a mandate for coverage, and I believe one of the issues is that a lot of these patients would have more in-patient care, and sometimes months and months at a time. That's kind of where the problem is," Wiethop said. "Twenty percent of premiums already go to state mandated health care."
Wiethop explained that Blue Cross and Blue Shield encourages patients with eating disorders to take advantage of services they already offer, like specialized advice from a trained nurse.
The Strategy
Culp said this fight will not be given up until the demands of those concerned are met.
"That's what Laura did was help the common person, and that's all we want to do now," Culp said.
The group has visited the capitol building several times in an attempt to sway legislators. It has also recruited UCM students like Alma Flores, sophomore broadcast media major, to write letters to legislators, explaining why they feel strongly about the need for the bill. Basically, Culp said, they are fighting against some of the best lobbyists in the state, the insurance lobbyists, but they will continue to fight for those struggling with the disease.
"This isn't something that just affects a certain group, or age or gender. It kind of affects everyone. This is mainly wanting to get people to be able to talk about it and get the help that they need. It would be great if this bill passed. Then it could go nation-wide. It would be great if Missouri was that trailblazer to get people to start to talk about this," Flores said.
