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Chubby Infant Denied Health Insurance
Get ready to put your babies on a diet. That is, if you want them to have health coverage.
After the birth of Alex, the Lange family sought a new insurance provider in Rocky Mountain Health Plans. The insurer then turned around and told the family their baby was “too fat” for coverage.
Alex’s parents, Bernie and Kelli, were understandably shocked.
“I could understand if we could control what he’s eating. But he’s 4 months old. We can’t put him on the Atkins diet or on a treadmill,” Bernie joked. “There is just something absurd about denying an infant.”
Even if the Langes wanted to put Alex on a diet, which is absurd, Alex gets all his nutrition through breast milk. Does Slim Fast make a breast milk flavor?
Alex’s denial falls in line with insurance companies’ common practice of underwriting, denying claims based on pre-existing conditions. Huskiness, apparently, is Alex’s pre-existing condition.
Personally, I’ve never met a baby who wasn’t chunky. That’s why they call it “baby fat”. Looking at this picture, Alex looks extremely average, but apparently his “obesity” doesn’t sit well with the insurance company’s bottom line.
Oddly, the community of Grand Junction, Colorado, where the Lange’s live, was recently mentioned for its exemplary heath care in a New Yorker article.
Why do companies still pull stupid maneuvers when every idiot trick they try to pull goes viral by the next morning? Maybe you were trying to save a buck, Rocky Mountain Health Plans, but money can’t buy this kind of bad press.
Update: Rocky Mountain Health Plans put out a press release today stating they would insure all health babies, regardless of weight.
Source: The Denver Post
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17 Comments
[...] gamble</a> on October 12th, 2009 at 1:30 pm <a href=”http://blogs.babble.com/strollerderby/2009/10/12/chubby-infant-denied-health-insurance/”>Ch... Infant Denied Health Insurance</a><span class=”attribution [...]
Bugness » Blog Archive » Interesting article I found today. commented on Oct 13 09 at 12:59 pm[...] Chubby Infant Denied Health Insurance [...]
Best of Strollerderby October 16, 2009 | Strollerderby commented on Oct 17 09 at 12:00 pm[...] Chubby Infant Denied Health Insurance [...]
Best of Strollerderby October 16, 2009 | Famecrawler commented on Oct 17 09 at 4:00 pmDiane commented on Oct 12 09 at 4:54 pmHard to believe some people are arguing that we don’t need health care reform.
Va Mommy commented on Oct 12 09 at 5:36 pmThats proof that we need health care reform!
Robyn commented on Oct 12 09 at 10:49 pmThey’ll ensure all “healthy” babies. So no babies with Down Syndrome, congenital heart defects, complications due to labor… where does the list end? Health care in America stinks.
GiantPanda commented on Oct 13 09 at 8:30 amCome to Japan and have your babies mothers, health care here is completely FREE until 5 years of age, no matter what they weigh…
PlumbLucky commented on Oct 13 09 at 8:49 amCan’t buy this kind of stupidity…thankfully for the family the father worked for a media outlet! Definitely proof that we need healthcare reform. And healthy babies…I can just see what they’d say about mine (25th percentile weight, 95th height. Always has been, and he’s not skin and bones either, he has a decent amount of chub). Any naysayers still believe we don’t need reform?
jenny tries too hard commented on Oct 13 09 at 9:07 amWe do need reform, and insurance companies need to be forced to compete with each other. If everyone in Grand Junction who heard about this could call up the insurance company and make an actual credible threat to take their business elsewhere, there’s no way they would think they could get away with this.
SpecialKay commented on Oct 13 09 at 12:53 pmAlex is adorable and looks healthy and happy. While I’m glad the health insurance company changes it’s stance after being pressured, I’m not sure I’d want my family to be covered by them.
Mistress_Scorpio commented on Oct 13 09 at 2:44 pmWell, thanks to the Glen Beckerheads, the healthcare bill being voted on is going to be so watered down as to not provide a public option to force the insurance companies to be competitive.
jenny tries too hard commented on Oct 13 09 at 3:24 pmtaking away state-line barriers and reforming capricious state insurance boards would work a lot better than a public option. The public option wouldn’t have to be profitable–the gov pays its bills, and it has a gauranteed customer in the people who are now covered by schip programs and whose employers don’t offer healthcare. Think of the public option as being similar to public school…the cost through taxes would keep private options reserved for those who could essentially pay twice.
Lisa commented on Oct 14 09 at 9:54 amComments
beautiful healthy baby! How pathetic it is about time every insurance company needs to be accountable for their pathetic bully actions. I can’t believe my eyes watching TV seeing people with signs saying no to health care…makes me as a Canadian wonder about my American neighbours, honestly are you really a Country of have and have nots?
PlumbLucky commented on Oct 14 09 at 10:25 amLisa – unfortunately, the short answer is “yes”.
Kaylee Lopez commented on Sep 30 10 at 11:49 amthe atkins diet is just about the right diet when you want to cut down body fat’”;
Liz commented on Apr 07 11 at 7:15 pmSounds like what happened to me today. I went to recertify my two year old daughter for WIC and I was told that she was obese and I needed to put her on a diet. Now the thing is my daughter is already 3’2″ and eats healthy (loves her fruits and veggies) and eats really only three meals a day and if she has a snack she asks for an apple or banana so please tell me where I need to put my daughter on a diet. We wonder why our teenagers have eating disorders. I don’t not any more any way.
anatomy of female reproductive system commented on Jul 07 11 at 2:57 amwhat i love about the atkins diet is that it can make you very skinny and fit..
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