No overnight help to cope with a daughter's eating disorder: "They're out of control"

GironaFrom one day to the next and without warning, patients with eating disorders (ED) of the Bofill Clinic in Girona They have stopped receiving financial aid to finance their treatment. In total, eighteen families are affected, and since the end of 2024, they have no longer received the monthly benefit that allowed them to cover practically all the costs of this private clinic in Girona, which offers a day hospital service for cases of anorexia and bulimia. This is the aid from the school insurance, which depends on the Ministry of Social Security and covers boys and girls up to the age of 28 who are enrolled in compulsory education.

For patients who begin intensive treatment from the beginning, admitted to the day center from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., the price of the clinic rises to 1,400 euros per month. This amount was almost completely reimbursed by the school insurance, but which, since December, the affected families have had to advance out of pocket up to four times. They have only received one of their outstanding payments, they don't know what will happen with the next monthly payments, and they are experiencing the situation with anxiety and worry, although, for the moment, they are not considering stopping treatment, as, for the health of their children, they assure us they will make the necessary financial efforts. However, they have been carrying this worry for some time, which discourages them, saps their energy, and adds to an already complicated situation of suffering and combating an eating disorder at home.

Tania Maldonado is the mother of a 16-year-old boy, the only one at the clinic, who was admitted in January. Since starting treatment, he has not received any monthly payment from his school insurance and has not even heard from the Girona Provincial Social Security Office regarding whether his application has been granted. "They haven't given me an answer, we've paid for three months, we're on our way to the fourth; we won't stop the treatment because for a child you do whatever it takes, if necessary we'll take out a loan, but it makes us restless, we're just on the hook and suffering because of the mortgage and the rest of the expenses," explains Tania. "It's not easy to manage, because you're already emotionally or 'low' enough when you'll be able to hold out without receiving that subsidy," laments the teenager's mother.

No official response from the administration

Beyond the delays in the payment of these benefits, the biggest problem families face is the lack of information and transfers. The Bofill Clinic has never had any problems with these benefits, which are processed online, but following the retirement of the official from the provincial office in charge, these delays have been repeated. Families have been calling for months, sending emails and letters, requesting appointments in person at the Girona offices, and have even filed a joint complaint, but the mess hasn't been resolved: "They tell us they'll look into it and resolve it soon, but nothing has happened," laments Cristina Múrio, a mother. "They've thrown the ball out to silence us, and they get rid of us by saying we'll get paid," continues Carme Pérez, mother of Mireia, also 17.

At most, through insistence, they've managed to get the care staff to justify the delay by citing the sick leave of the civil servant who's taken over, the installation of new software, or the priority of other more urgent procedures. ARA has contacted the Ministry of Social Security but has also received no official response. This is a very specific case, which for the moment only affects 18 families at this Girona eating disorder clinic, who have been left in a kind of bureaucratic and administrative limbo, with no one taking responsibility.

Being in treatment and processing the aid yourself

For underage patients, it's the parents who process the benefits, but for adults, it's up to them to manage them themselves. Aina Camps, 25, is already at a more advanced stage of treatment, spends fewer days at the clinic, and currently has to pay around €1,000 a month: "For me, it's an added worry; it makes me anxious. I've talked about it with the therapists; it's a priority, it's embarrassing," she says, referring to the payment issues.

The affected families opt for this treatment over private healthcare after initially undergoing public healthcare, where, for whatever reason, the treatment didn't work for them or they couldn't be treated quickly enough. However, according to Pau Chapur, head psychologist at the Bofill Clinic, the ministry's subsidy is essential for adolescents to continue with the cure for malaria: "The TCAs have increased tremendously, all the services are collapsing, so that if a public family arrives who cannot pay our treatment and li diem that "The insurance is not being collected, will it remain? It will remain without treatment, and it will not be possible," Chapur defends.