Tuesday, October 13, 2009

So Your Baby is Too Healthy?

This just makes me ::headdesk::.

There was a little boy on the news yesterday - he is 4 months old, 25 inches tall and 17 lbs. This places him in the 99th percentile of babies his age.

What every parent strives for, right? I loved when the pediatrician told me my kids were in the upper echelon of percentage for weight and height. It made me feel like I was actually doing something right!

The parents' insurance company begged to differ and had cancelled the baby's insurance. Why? Because he is "too big". HUH?

They claimed that anything over 95% was considered unhealthy [again - whaaaa?] and denied his coverage.

Sigh.

I googled it this morning and discovered that they have reinstated his insurance. So, that is good news.

But I have to ask: When is being in the 99th percentile of anything a bad thing? Isn't that why those particular scales are created - for comparison? I would think that the insurance company would've been thrilled that the baby is thriving.

What's next? A baby under their health plan falls below the 80th percentile and they cancel coverage because, gasp - the baby is too small and may not doing all that well?

I just don't understand it.

4 comments:

Gail said...

Strange things every where

RVVagabond said...

While I disagree with the insurance company for setting those standards, the baby WAS heavy. I ended up wearing leg braces for a year to straighten my bowed legs from being too heavy when I started walking (at seven months). I too was a "healthy" baby but far too heavy for my age.

Yum Yucky said...

I glanced at the news, but didn't get all the details like you've given. Insurance companies are greedy monsters with no heart. ARGH!

JennyMac said...

you have got to be %#^^(!_#&# kidding me....

some insurance companies...suck.