What a marvelously ambiguous title:
Aetna Agrees to Treat Eating Disorders Like Mental Illness
It IS an mental illness: meaning it is a biologically based disease. Not because of the physical ravages of malnutrition, bingeing, or purging that the patient has chosen to do - but because something is wrong with brain function.
Aetna is agreeing - though the deal's not done yet - to treat anorexia and bulimia for what they are: devastating conditions that require intervention. Not a choice. Not a bad habit. Not self-destructive impulses.
A real brain disease that is TREATABLE. And that is the business of health insurance, no?