DENVER, Oct 13, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- A Colorado insurance company will drop
a ban on providing health coverage for infants considered to weigh too much for
their length, a company spokeswoman said.
The policy drew national attention with news reports about 4-month-old Alex
Lange, whose family applied for healthcare coverage last week with Rocky
Mountain Health Plans, based in Grand Junction, Colo. The family had coverage
with another company but Alex's father, Bernie Lange, said the premiums were
rising and he was looking for a better situation.
"My insurance broker called me last week and said, 'we can cover you, but your
baby is apparently too fat,'" Bernie Lange told ABC News.
Alex Lange is 25 inches long and weighs about 17 pounds -- which puts him in the
99th percentile for height and weight for his age, going by guidelines published
by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rocky Mountain Health Plans
has been using the guidelines and its underwriters concluded Alex Lange had a
pre-existing condition when they decided to deny coverage for him, because he
was above the 95th percentile and was considered to be obese.
Rocky Mountain Health Plans spokeswoman Kayla Arnesen told ABC News the company
reviewed its policy, focusing on a basic question.
"Should we be denying coverage for healthy babies just because they are above
the 95th percentile?" Arnesen said. "It doesn't make good sense, it doesn't make
good policy, and we're not going to do it."
URL: www.upi.com
Copyright 2009 by United Press International