Denied health insurance for being too fat...

Annette_rose

I am so sorry for you and applaud you on your weight loss and the effort you are making. My situation is different, but I would be in the same boat as you if I could not get insurance through my employer. I am a cancer survivor and the radiation harmed my heart valves so have a mechanical aortic valve. Both things would cause them to deny me if I were to apply for private insurance. It is discouraging.

Sharyn913

Four years ago, I worked for a huge company that offered awesome insurance. I paid less than $200 a month, and literally a month after starting my job, I found out I was pregnant. I waited until my 90 days and began seeing a doctor. I had minimal copays, and my entire $9,000 delivery was covered 100%-- not a dime came out of pocket.

Now, I work for a very small company. My employer covers 20% of my health insurance cost, so I pay $260 a month for my husband and I, and we have a high deductible. I went to the doctors this week with lower back pain, I was seen for five minutes, and was told I just pulled a muscle. I will more than likely be paying $75-100 just for that five minutes. It's all a numbers game... but I feel they can make it more fair.

Someone along the line is making a LOT of profit though.

Merithyn

Hey, I figure if we're all going to be TAXED and therefore get taxed even more when people are overweight... we might as well socialize gyms as well. I think the government should give everyone FREE gym membership. Lets start a petition...

I would happily pay more in taxes if it meant that everyone could get good healthcare that they can afford without losing everything due to illness. It's worth it to me because I am part of this community, and the entire community is important to me. I'm sorry you don't feel the same.

wackyfunster

I know, right? When I asked my life insurance company about taking up skydiving, they said they would raise my rates by a factor of 10 if I did! It's so unfair! It's almost like they're running a for profit business that uses statistical models to determine the relative risk of a policy and price the policy premium accordingly! I should totally be able to light my house on fire and get an insurance policy on it while it burns! Maybe we can pass some kind of law for that too!

Good job reading the replies here, and the fact that I've already lost 60 pounds and they held the fact that I lost weight against me. Way to read!

There's that victim mentality. Sigh.

You've already been told that you can get state high risk insurance.

So basically, victim mentality is whenever someone calls something out for not being fair? Fine-- I'm willing to accept being denied now. But if I lose 60 more pounds and reapply, I'll still be forced into a high risk pool despite having no health problems and lesser risk of getting them since the fat is gone. I'll do what I have to do, but when the system is broken, it's not victim mentality to call it such.

Obesity IS a health problem. It greatly increases the risks of a variety of expensive procedures (e.g. knee surgery) even in the absence of any blood pressure/heart problems. If you had a congenital defect, or disease that was not your own doing, then I would definitely support your complaint... it is not fair for people to be victimized due to circumstances beyond their control.

I am glad that you are taking steps to improve your health, and that you have had some measure of success already. Great job! I really don't see how you can be that upset that you have to deal with the logical consequences of actions that you willingly took, however.

bm99

I know, right? When I asked my life insurance company about taking up skydiving, they said they would raise my rates by a factor of 10 if I did! It's so unfair! It's almost like they're running a for profit business that uses statistical models to determine the relative risk of a policy and price the policy premium accordingly! I should totally be able to light my house on fire and get an insurance policy on it while it burns! Maybe we can pass some kind of law for that too!

Good job reading the replies here, and the fact that I've already lost 60 pounds and they held the fact that I lost weight against me. Way to read!

There's that victim mentality. Sigh.

You've already been told that you can get state high risk insurance.

So basically, victim mentality is whenever someone calls something out for not being fair? Fine-- I'm willing to accept being denied now. But if I lose 60 more pounds and reapply, I'll still be forced into a high risk pool despite having no health problems and lesser risk of getting them since the fat is gone. I'll do what I have to do, but when the system is broken, it's not victim mentality to call it such.

Obesity IS a health problem. It greatly increases the risks of a variety of expensive procedures (e.g. knee surgery) even in the absence of any blood pressure/heart problems. If you had a congenital defect, or disease that was not your own doing, then I would definitely support your complaint... it is not fair for people to be victimized due to circumstances beyond their control.

I am glad that you are taking steps to improve your health, and that you have had some measure of success already. Great job! I really don't see how you can be that upset that you have to deal with the logical consequences of actions that you willingly took, however.

This.

And another congrats on the weight you've lost. I'm pretty sure that at my weight I wouldn't be accepted by your insurance, either, so I do understand how you feel but we did this to ourselves. I have a sob story (a good one!) about why and how I got myself this fat and how unfair life is now, but at the end of the day it's MY responsibility to live with the consequences of my actions and MY responsibility to fix the situation if it's at all possible.

wackyfunster

Hey, I figure if we're all going to be TAXED and therefore get taxed even more when people are overweight... we might as well socialize gyms as well. I think the government should give everyone FREE gym membership. Lets start a petition...

I would happily pay more in taxes if it meant that everyone could get good healthcare that they can afford without losing everything due to illness. It's worth it to me because I am part of this community, and the entire community is important to me. I'm sorry you don't feel the same.

I agree with that sentiment as well. Unfortunately, I don't think that's what we are going to get.

bm99

Hey, I figure if we're all going to be TAXED and therefore get taxed even more when people are overweight... we might as well socialize gyms as well. I think the government should give everyone FREE gym membership. Lets start a petition...

I would happily pay more in taxes if it meant that everyone could get good healthcare that they can afford without losing everything due to illness. It's worth it to me because I am part of this community, and the entire community is important to me. I'm sorry you don't feel the same.

I agree with that sentiment as well. Unfortunately, I don't think that's what we are going to get.

We get the watered down, completely stupid Obamacare from our Pansy in Chief. I am normally against more government, but I'd vote for a guy who suggested full on Universal healthcare. Obamacare is the crap version of what we should actually have.

Sally807

I do know what you are going through. My husband and I applied for health and life insurance combined. We even had the "representative" come to the house. After discussing everything with him and we were told it was "No problem" with our getting a policy. What a relief! Two weeks later, we received our packet giving us a FAMILY policy with just my husband on it. We were told that I was over the weight limit for the regulations on the policy, however, they would make a family policy in my husband's case.

I cried for weeks each time I thought about it. Why tell us there wasn't a problem when clearly there was? I also was embarassed, confused, and darn right angry. I tried to call but could not get through and e-mails (nothing). I'm sure they got my letter because I sent it registered so they would have to sign for it.

It has been over a year and I'm still angry whenever I hear someone else was treated the same way. I'm still frustrated but I'm in better shape. We are still looking for insurance but I'm sure next time I'll be within THEIR limits.

alli_baba

Someone along the line is making a LOT of profit though.

I think that's an interesting statement. From my understanding, the health insurance companies are not big winners in the Affordable Healthcare Act/Obamacare (as a sort of confirmation, the stock of Aetna and Wellpoint have tanked since the Supreme Court decision).

I'm an economist by trade (not focused on healthcare) but my friends who work in healthcare policy say the big winners are hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. Something needs to be fixed in our healthcare system to make it affordable for everyone, but I agree with others that the passage of this legislation will probably not help too much as it doesn't get to the root of the problem regarding expense (and may, in fact, exacerbate the problem).

To the OP, I applaud you on not giving up. If your weight was the sole deciding factor (and you are not too far from the "healthy" threshold), you will succeed in getting a good policy. I did some analysis years ago while getting my doctorate, assesssing statistical models of health insurance companies. They really do not want to deny you (they want your money). If you have a perfectly clean medical record and the only issue is being penalized for losing weight (which doesn't make much sense), appeal the decision. Good luck!

Merithyn

We get the watered down, completely stupid Obamacare from our Pansy in Chief. I am normally against more government, but I'd vote for a guy who suggested full on Universal healthcare. Obamacare is the crap version of what we should actually have.

It would be nice if the House, the Senate, and the President could all play well together and pass a law that benefits everyone, but that seems impossible these days. I'll take what I can get for now.

Scott

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