I am a survivor of an eating disorder and Cielo House treatment center helped save my life. Cielo House is one of the 25 eating disorder treatment programs that Optum/United Healthcare Group plans to close. These treatment centers are not just buildings; they are lifelines for people like me who struggle with eating disorders.

Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, with one person dying every 52 minutes as a direct result (source: National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders). Many persons with eating disorders also suffer from depression, anxiety, and other co-occurring mental and physical illnesses. Closing these treatment centers would mean shutting down vital resources for those who desperately need them.

Optum/United Healthcare Group is the largest health insurance company in the nation. Their decision to close these facilities will impact thousands across our nation, leaving them without access to life saving care.

Optum/United Healthcare Group’s decisions is aimed to create a monopoly for their virtual treatment centers by cutting off patients from in person treatment eating disorder treatment.

Here is a list of all the eating disorder treatment programs to be closed:

• Cielo House*, San Francisco Bay Area, California                       
  • [6 Adult Programs & 2 Adolescent Programs]
• Evolve Healing, Green Bay Area, Wisconsin
  • [4 Adult Programs & 4 Adolescent Programs]
• Fairhaven Treatment Center, Memphis Area, Tennessee  
  • [3 Adult Program & 2 Adolescent Programs]
• Turning Tides, Jacksonville Area, Florida
  • [2 Adult Programs & 2 Adolescent Programs]

Optum has a financial interest in closing these in-person treatment centers because its subsidiary, Optum Ventures, invested over $17 mill in virtual eating disorder treatment. Closing these IRL treatment centers functions to force patients into virtual treatment, making them money as a private equity investor and saving them money as an insurer.

We cannot stand by while this happens. We must urge Optum/United Healthcare Group to reconsider their decision and keep these crucial treatment centers open. Please join me in this fight - sign this petition today and help save lives of children and adults struggling with eating disorders

*Cielo House is one of few inpatient/residential treatment centers providing eating disorder care to patients insured by Medi-Cal/Medicaid