Monday, October 12, 2009

Health Insurance Industry makes another Case for Single Payer Option - denies 4 month old still breast feeding coverage

17-Pound, 4-Month-Old Baby Denied Health Insurance for Being Too Fat

If you thought in your wildest dreams the "Health Insurance Industry" couldn't get any stupider. They have again one upped themselves by denying coverage to four month old for being to FAT.



I guess what the Health Insurance Industry is telling all Americans in no small way; lets all sing along with the Obama song now " We the Health Insurance Industry are in the business of making MONEY; so to that end, we only will cover HEALTHY PEOPLE that promise never to get sick"

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From Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,564501,00.html

Nothing brings a smile to an adult's face quicker than the sight of a happy, chubby baby.

But the sight of 4-month-old Alex Lange, who measures 25-inches long and weighs 17 pounds, is bringing a frown to the hypothetical face of insurance company Rocky Mountain Health Plan The Denver Post reported on its Web site Monday.

Underwriters, the people who are in charge of assessing risk for insurance companies, have decided that baby Alex's pre-existing condition —Obesity — makes him a high-risk patient and have denied him coverage.

His parents were shocked.

"I could understand if we could control what he's eating. But he's 4 months old. He's breast-feeding. We can't put him on the Akins Diet or on a treadmill," joked his frustrated father, Bernie Lange, a part-time news anchor at KKCO-TV in Grand Junction. "There is just something absurd about denying an infant."

Bernie and Kelli Lange tried to get insurance with Rocky Mountain Health Plans when their current insurer raised their rates 40 percent after Alex was born.

After filling out the necessary paperwork, the broker who was helping the family find new insurance called last Thursday with the shocking news that Alex, who weighed 8 1/4-pounds at birth, was being denied coverage.

At 17 pounds, Alex is in the 99th percentile for height and weight for babies his age. His parents were told insurance companies don't take babies above the 95th percentile, no matter how healthy.

Dr. Doug Speedie, medical director at insurance company Rocky Mountain Health Plans, told KKCO-TV, it’s possible for a baby to be above the 95 percentile and still be healthy, and admitted the system is flawed.

“Your weight is not an absolute determinate of health," Speedie said. “Unfortunately when we try to sell people insurance, a number has to be used as a cutoff."

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No wonder the Insurance Industry is fighting so hard against real and substantial Health Care Reform; they have the winning Lotto Ticket for every draw, while having no intention of sharing the winnings with America.

Is the newest Nobel Peace Prize recipient listening out there?

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Update: It appears the Health Insurance Industry has decided to sing a different tune after all the bad press.

Just an opinion here: This move is a day late and a trillion dollars short. If we were not in a huge Health Care Reform Debate that may effect the The Insurance Industry Bottom Line negatively; I must wonder with great suspicion if they would have taken this quick and decisive action?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,564947,00.html?test=health

DENVER — A Colorado insurance company is changing its attitude about fat babies.

Rocky Mountain Health Plans said it will no longer consider obesity a "pre-existing condition" barring coverage for hefty infants. The change comes after the insurer turned down a Grand Junction 4-month-old who weighs about 17 pounds. The insurer deemed Alex Lange obese and said the infant didn't qualify for coverage.



Posted by Stan at 6:19 PM
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