Healthy 4 month old baby uninsurable

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

A Colorado couple applied for new health insurance for the family which includes a four month old. The insurance company turned them down because the baby was deemed too fat!

The family jokes that when he is ready to be weaned form breastmilk they will put him on SlimFast.

Heavy infant in Grand Junction denied health insurance - The Denver Post

There's a photo of the baby in case you are curious what "baby obesity" looks like.

[Inkstain82]

Insurance companies don't want to insure people they know will be very likely to cost more than the premiums.

What's the problem?

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Are there statistics to show that a baby who is 99th percentile on both height and weight is likely to cost the company more than the premiums paid? We aren't talking about a baby who is, say, 10th percentile on height coupled with 99th percentile on weight. You might be able to show that a baby like that has a high likelihood of developing bone, joint, posture, gait, and even musculature abnormalities that will cost money. I'm only guessing at that. But can it be the case that this baby who is just all around big is, statistically speaking, going to have expensive health problems? We're not talking about a large for gestational age baby, as far as I can tell from the article.

[wincrasher]

The whole premise of insurance is to spread the risk. Some of your policy holders get sick, some don't. The slim difference between premiums collected and cost paid is your profit.

Now the insurance companies want to insure that none of their policyholders get sick. Maximum profit. Who cares the lives that are ruined? We just wanna make money.

This is why heath care reform is needed.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Apparently I was among the last to hear of this story. It has been all over the news and entertainment media for a couple weeks. But for anyone equally behind the times, here's a follow-up:

Colorado health insurer finds flaw, now to cover babies of any weight | IFAwebnews.com

"Rocky Mountain Health Plans announced it found a flaw in its underwriting system and will now provide coverage to healthy infants, no matter their weight, according to the Denver Post."

"A spokesman for the insurer told the Post that as a small company, “we were able to act quickly and decisively” and that it is “pleased” to cover Alex and “other healthy babies.”"