Toddler Denied Insurance For Being Too Small
First they’re too fat - now a kid has been denied health insurance because she’s TOO SMALL. Can we ever win?
Two-year-old Aislin Bates apparently weighs twenty-two pounds, putting her in the third percentile for kids her age. So United Health Care said no way to insuring her.
But Bates isn’t sick. Her mom told the Today Show she was six pounds, six ounces at birth (full-term). “She’s just petite,” Rachel Bates explained.
She was also a picky eater, and her parents wanted to find a reason - so they sought therapy, finding out she had a minor gag reflex issue. In therapy for ten weeks, Aislin is “developing normal (sic).”
But then came Rob Bates’ job change - and the letter from United Health Care which said they would not cover Aislin because she does not meet their “height and weight standards.”
A United spokeswoman told Denver news channel 7News, “Ours are based on several medical sources, including the Centers for Disease Control, and are well within industry standards.”
Except height and weight standards like percentiles are being thrown out by a lot of medical practitioners because they’re too general. The CDC guidelines have been criticized by the World Health Organization. In light of the current childhood obesity crisis, comparing small kids to larger ones does not necessarily indicated undernourishment - it indicates the standards are off. Breastfed kids, in particular, often fall lower on the charts than formula-fed kids, and seem underfed.
And need we point out this kid is two? Kids have growth spurts. They have periods when they peck at their food and weeks when you can’t keep food in the house.
If a two-year-old has a pre-existing condition, what’s next?
Image: 7News
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Tags: birthweight, government funded insurance, health, health insurance, Jeanne Sager, percentile
6 Comments
[...] baby denied health insurance for being too fat. Now, a 2-year-old has been denied because she’s too small. [...]
Blue-Eyed People Have Common Ancestor, 100-Year-Old Breaks Shot Put Record, and the Girl Who Can’t Stop Sneezing : InformationalHub.com commented on Nov 11 09 at 9:31 pm[...] baby denied health insurance for being too fat. Now, a 2-year-old has been denied because she’s too small. [...]
Blue-Eyed People Have Common Ancestor, 100-Year-Old Breaks Shot Put Record, and the Girl Who Can’t Stop Sneezing | Healthy Living Blog commented on Nov 12 09 at 6:06 am[...] baby denied health insurance for being too fat. Now, a 2-year-old has been denied because she’s too small. [...]
Blue-Eyed People Have Common Ancestor, 100-Year-Old Breaks Shot Put Record, and the Girl Who Can’t Stop Sneezing | Healthy Living Tips commented on Nov 14 09 at 6:17 pm[...] baby denied health insurance for being too fat. Now, a 2-year-old has been denied because she’s too small. [...]
Gear Guide: Body Shape Fitness Kits » Physical Therapy Page commented on Nov 18 09 at 8:36 amPlumbLucky commented on Oct 22 09 at 2:33 pmThe article I read on this yesterday had “Golden Rule” tagged on after the United Healthcare. Isn’t that the same company that told a woman to get sterilized because they couldn’t refuse her a C-section, or they wouldn’t cover her?
ml commented on Nov 25 09 at 10:41 pmComments My 13 year old son was almost 10 lbs when he was born, and probably pretty close to 22 lbs at 2. Once he hit 18 lbs he gained weight very slow, and ate so little I could not believe it. The kid has never been sick, never even gets a cold, the flu, etc and not only plays sports but excels in several of them. He has always been small for his age except at birth. I can’t believe that they can not insurance a child for this.
