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Healthy 22-Pound Toddler Denied Insurance Coverage As Underweight By - Guess Who! - UNITED HEALTHCARE! Another Toddler Rejected For Being Too Big! WHY ARE SICK DENIED IN 2009!
Healthy 22-Pound
Toddler Denied
Insurance Coverage
As Underweight By -
Guess Who! -
UNITED
HEALTHCARE!
Another Toddler
Rejected For Being
Too Big!
WHY ARE SICK
DENIED TODAY
IN 2009!
Tabacco: Because of the publicity, this ABOMINATION will undoubtedly be reversed. But what about the next “underweight” or “overweight” toddler! I also viewed this story on CNN!
This is a prime example of why Insurance Companies must be removed from the HEALTHCARE business – it’s one of those industries that is too important to leave to the discretion of CAPITALISTS!
So long as unimpeded Insurance-For-Profit continues, all sorts of people will be denied coverage or rejected for BEING TOO SICK even though covered!
President Obama is lying through his teeth when he asserts that a “PUBLIC OPTION is not essential”!
Story continues:
Aislin’s dad, Robert Bates, told TODAY’s Erin Burnett he was shocked that United HealthCare turned down their request for coverage when their daughter is basically a picture of health, having suffered nothing more than a common cold in her life. Doctors have told Robert and his wife, Rachel, that Aislin’s small size is purely a matter of genes, not ill health.
“It seems as if they’re discriminating about the fact that she’s smaller, that her size is an issue”, Robert Bates said. “I don’t see why that would be a factor in whether or not a child is healthy”. (Tabacco: Neither do I, Robert - neither do I!)
Bates told TODAY that he and his family were previously insured by United HealthCare. Two months after Aislin was born, his employer switched plans to Guardian Health Insurance. In August, Bates left his job to become self-employed, and he went back to United HealthCare requesting coverage. The insurer turned down coverage for Aislin — even though it had already insured Aislin as an infant — stating she did not meet height and weight standards and also noting the Bateses had sought treatment for Aislin’s finicky eating habits.
Aislin, whose nickname is 'Pixie,' has been attending food therapy for her picky eating.
Doctor says child is normal
As the Bateses appealed the decision, their own family doctor went to bat for them, writing to the insurer and stating Aislin’s small size was genetic, that she was developing normally and there was no reason to deny coverage. But Robert Bates said the company rejected the appeal, simply reiterating that Aislin didn’t meet underwriting standards.
Rachel Bates told Burnett their daughter “is not sick at all; she’s just petite, and that’s the issue.” She said little Aislin has been graded in the 3rd percentile for child height and weight, but has been progressing normally in her own range.
Robert and Rachel realized Aislin was a picky eater early on, and went the extra mile to enroll her in food therapy. But instead of earning brownie points with the insurer, the family believes having their daughter in treatment is actually being held against them.
Therapy for picky eating
“We wanted to fix her picky eating, because we want her to be able to eat a wide variety of foods, and not just things she wants to eat, like chocolate,” Rachel Bates told TODAY.
“We personally sought out therapy; it was not prescribed by a doctor. In the process, it was found that [Aislin] has just a minor, minor gag reflex, causing her to not like certain foods. But the therapist says she’s thriving and fine, and she’s developing normally and in fact, possibly advanced.”
Appearing on TODAY with the Bates family, which also includes 3-month-old boy Elliott, Dr. Nancy Snyderman quickly broke in when Burnett professed she didn’t understand what the problem is with insuring Aislin.
“You don’t understand? Because there’s nothing here to understand,” Snyderman said. “This is just so bogus. A pre-existing condition for a child this age is birth, let’s be real!”
Video
Baby denied insurance for being ‘too fat’
Oct. 13: A Colorado couple was initially denied health insurance for their 4-month-old son because he was overweight. NBC’s Michael Okwu reports and NBC’s chief medical editor, Dr. Nancy Snyderman, weighs in.
The case of Alex Lange had a happy ending. After the family appeared on TODAY, Rocky Mountain Health Plans reversed its decision and agreed to insure the child, and admitted there was a flaw in its underwriting system.
‘Cherry-picking of health plans’
Robert Bates, to date, has had no such luck. While he continues to lobby United HealthCare to cover Aislin, the family has been forced to look at other options. Aislin is currently insured under a COBRA plan from Bates’ previous job, but it expires in 18 months.
Snyderman was clearly agitated that the Bates family has to go through worry and uncertainty over insuring Aislin, and said her prognosticating skills have unfortunately been proven accurate.
“Last week we talked about how crazy it was that there was a chubby baby being denied, and I said next thing you know, we’ll hear about the skinny kid. So here’s the skinny kid”, she said, pointing to Aislin.
“I think what we’re really seeing is the cherry-picking of health care plans across the country,” Snyderman said, adding, “If anyone doubted the significance of health care reform in this country, this is why things have to change.
“This is egregious!”
Tabacco: UNITED HEALTHCARE – you’ve read that name here before! United is NOT the only bad Insurance Company by a long shot – but it is the WORST! I avoid AARP because of United and AARP’s support for Bush Medicare. Nancy Pelosi’s Fund Raiser on September 24th was at the home of Steve Elmendorf, United Healthcare LOBBYIST! And in January, United was fined $400,000,000.00 by New York State for illegal practices. The list goes on!
It’s time we refused to accept “the earth is flat” and “rejected for prior condition or prior treatment” simply because those concepts have been accepted before! Slavery and Segregation are no longer constitutional! Women can now vote!
Let’s get rid of FOR-PROFIT-HEALTHCARE INSURANCE in America! That is an Institution, whose time has gone!
Tabacco: I consider myself both a funnel and a filter. I funnel information, not readily available on the Mass Media, which is ignored and/or suppressed. I filter out the irrelevancies and trivialities to save both the time and effort of my Readers and bring consternation to the enemies of Truth & Fairness! When you read Tabacco, if you don’t learn something NEW, I’ve wasted your time.
Tabacco is not a blogger, who thinks; I am a Thinker, who blogs.
In 1981's 'Body Heat', Kathleen Turner said, "Knowledge is power".
T.A.B.A.C.C.O. (Truth About Business And Congressional Crimes Organization) – Think Tank For Other 95% Of World: WTP = We The People
INSURANCE OVERVIEW
TO THOSE WHO THINK OBAMA CAN DO NO WRONG:
Sen. Charles Schumer: “I think we’re very close to getting the sixty votes we need to move forward, and my guess is that the public option level playing field with the state opt-out will be in the bill. But Leader Reid will make that decision after he talks to everybody several times.”
BIG PHARMA SCAM ALERT!