Your Daily Digest for Friday, Oct. 14:
The fight over if and how much insurance covers eating disorder residential care is heating up, the New York Times reported today. The federal government in 2008 passed a law forcing insurers to cover mental disorders, including eating disorders, to the same extent they cover physical disorders. But that requirement is vague, and insurers and those with disorders are still looking to how the courts will interpret it. Blue Shield of California challenged a similar state law in the courts, arguing it could lead to unlimited treatment costs and increasing health care costs overall. But the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled the parity law applied to mental health residential treatment. Blue Shield is seeking a rehearing. “This ruling gives a little more legitimacy to the reality of what this illness is,” said one woman who suffers from eating disorders and was involved in the case. The residential treatment can cost upward of $1,000 a day, but those with eating disorders say it’s the only way to ensure those that are sick don’t purge their food or simply eat.
An out-of-control car hit and killed two construction workers yesterday on 35W in Burnsville, the Strib reported. The driver, from Missouri, had just got a new car that as “faster than … a rocket,” according to his Facebook page. Alcohol wasn’t involved in the crash — driver Kirk Deamos, 21, overcompensated in steering away from the construction wall and spun into a ditch where the two workers were. Last year, 11 construction workers were killed work-zone accidents.
Cheered about a delayed cleanup of the park they’re occupying, Occupy Wall Street protesters are getting bold, and some have clashed with police, the New York Times reported. Fourteen protesters have been arrested for throwing trash at officers, blocking traffic or otherwise harassing police. There’ve been reports of an officer running over a demonstrator with his scooter or an arrested demonstrator with a “gash” on his forehead.