NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A5294A
SPONSOR: Gunther
 
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the public health law, in relation to
establishing the eating disorders awareness and prevention program
 
PURPOSE: To include eating disorders within the health care and well-
ness education and outreach program.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill amends subdivision 1 of section 207 of the public
health law to add a new paragraph (j) to establish that the eating
disorders awareness and prevention program shall be designed to promote
the awareness of eating disorders and available services, as well as to
prevent and reduce the incidence and prevalence of eating disorders,
especially among children and adolescents.
Section 2 of the bill provides for an immediate effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION: Alarmingly, in American high schools 30% of girls and
16% of boys suffer from disordered eating. Anorexia is the third most
common chronic illness among adolescents. In fact it has the highest
death rate of any mental illness with females between the ages of 15 and
24 dying 12 times more from their eating disorder than all other causes
of death in that age-group.
A recent study found that between 1999 and 2006, hospitalizations for
eating disorders increased most sharply (119%) for children younger than
12 years old. Clearly eating disorder awareness, detection and
prevention must start at early ages and be addressed in a comprehensive
manner. Early recognition and intervention of eating disorders has been
linked to better treatment outcomes.
New York State has already taken a leading role in recognizing the
importance of addressing eating disorders. In 2004 a network of Compre-
hensive Care Centers for Eating Disorders were established and in 2007
the Child Performer Advisory Board to Prevent Eating Disorders was
enacted. This bill represents the next steps for New York State to
ensure we do everything we can to be proactive and save lives.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 2012: S.7386 Died-in Finance/ A.10149-A Passed
Assembly
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: To be determined, however with the cost of treat-
ing full symptom eating disorders costing upwards of $30,000 per month,
this bill can, a minimal cost, result in significant savings to the
state health care system while saving lives.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5294--A
2013-2014 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 22, 2013
___________
Introduced by M. of A. GUNTHER, MILLMAN, JAFFEE, PAULIN, WEPRIN, CRESPO,
THIELE, ROBINSON, CLARK, BENEDETTO, ZEBROWSKI, MOYA, GANTT, SCHIMEL,
FINCH, TITUS, GALEF, ENGLEBRIGHT, HEASTIE, LUPARDO, MAGEE, MARKEY,
SCARBOROUGH, COOK, HOOPER, RUSSELL, LENTOL, KELLNER, RAMOS, PRETLOW,
DINOWITZ, MOSLEY, PERRY, MAGNARELLI, ROBERTS, OTIS, MONTESANO --
Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. BARCLAY, BLANKENBUSH, BRENNAN, DUPREY,
FITZPATRICK, GARBARINO, GOTTFRIED, GRAF, HAWLEY, HEVESI, KEARNS, KOLB,
PALMESANO, RIVERA, SWEENEY, TENNEY, WALTER, WEISENBERG -- read once
and referred to the Committee on Health -- recommitted to the Commit-
tee on Health in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to said committee
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to establishing the
eating disorders awareness and prevention program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 207 of the public health law is
2 amended by adding a new paragraph (j) to read as follows:
3 (j) The eating disorders awareness and prevention program shall be
4 designed to promote the awareness of eating disorders and available
5 services, as well as to prevent and reduce the incidence and prevalence
6 of eating disorders, especially among children and adolescents.
7 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05353-06-4