“Alex Lange Denied Health Care Coverage: "Your Baby Is Too Fat" - Huffingtonpost.com” plus 4 more

Alex Lange Denied Health Care Coverage: "Your Baby Is Too Fat" - Huffingtonpost.com
Reporter gives birth in unit she's campaigning for - Lancashire Evening Telegraph
Health care company refuses to insure large baby - KSDK
Woman 'not bright enough' to keep baby - Communitycare.co.uk
Alex Lange Denied Health Care Coverage: "Your Baby Is Too Fat" - Huffingtonpost.com

Alex Lange Denied Health Care Coverage: "Your Baby Is Too Fat" - Huffingtonpost.com

Posted: 13 Oct 2009 12:23 AM PDT

UPDATE: Rocky Mountain Health Plans has now said it will cover Alex Lange, a baby they previously refused to give health insurance because of his weight.

"A recent situation in which we denied coverage to a heavy, yet healthy, infant brought to our
attention a flaw in our underwriting system for approving infants," says Steve ErkenBrack, president and CEO, Rocky Mountain Health Plans. "Because we are a small company dedicated to the people of Colorado, we are pleased to be in a position to act quickly. We have changed our policy, corrected our underwriting guidelines and are working to notify the parents of the infant who we earlier denied."

Read the whole press release.

* * * * *

Four-month-old Alex Lange is described as a "happy, adorable, big baby." Yet he can't get health insurance.

Rocky Mountain Health Plans refuses to cover little Alex because he's too large. Grand Junction's NBC11News.com reports:

Because of his size, Baby Alex was turned down for health insurance, his height and weight put him in the 99th percentile according to CDC guidelines.

Kelli [his mother] says it's ridiculous, "It's frustrating, it's very frustrating."

Dr. Speedie at Rocky Mountain Health Plans says all babies are evaluated for insurance the same way. "In children it's based on a combination of height and weight."

The health insurance reform legislation moving through Congress would end this practice of denying coverage based on "pre-existing conditions" -- in Alex's case, "obesity."
The Denver Post has more:

"I could understand if we could control what he's eating. But he's 4 months old. He's breast-feeding. We can't put him on the Atkins diet or on a treadmill," joked his frustrated father, Bernie Lange, a part-time news anchor at KKCO-TV in Grand Junction. "There is just something absurd about denying an infant."

Bernie and Kelli Lange tried to get insurance for their growing family with Rocky Mountain Health Plans when their current insurer raised their rates 40 percent after Alex was born. They filled out the paperwork and awaited approval, figuring their family is young and healthy. But the broker who was helping them find new insurance called Thursday with news that shocked them.

"'Your baby is too fat,' she told me," Bernie said.

UDPATE: Bernie, Kelli, and baby Alex will all appear on MSNBC's Ed Show on Monday evening.

Here's more coverage:

This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Reporter gives birth in unit she's campaigning for - Lancashire Evening Telegraph

Posted: 12 Oct 2009 09:52 PM PDT

A reporter gave birth in a premature baby care unit she has spent the past 18 months campaigning to help refurbish.

In summer 2008 the Lynn News launched its Special Care Baby Appeal which is aiming to raise £150,000 for structural and facelift work and improve access to the baby unit at the town's Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

The centre treats seriously ill and premature babies and after just 11 months the appeal smashed through the £100,000 barrier.

Reporter Louise Brain went into labour six-and-a-half weeks early and, after giving birth to a boy weighing just 2lb 15oz, is being cared for in the very hospital unit she has been feverishly campaigning to improve.

She told the News: "Despite having worked on the Special Care Baby Appeal for the past 18 months and heard countless stories of families who needed the unit, I never dreamt that we would.

"We are now experiencing first hand the incredible, professional skill of the staff.

"We're benefiting daily from their immeasurable practical and emotional support and that of the entire team on Castle Acre maternity ward, and watching as all the families around us experience the same.

"We have a long way to go yet and many hurdles ahead but our tiny son is doing very well and the team at QEH is giving us every reason to hope we will make it.

"If our appeal succeeds, as it aims to, in allowing more families to benefit from the care of the QEH maternity and special care team, I can say without a doubt they will all be as indescribably grateful as we are."

The appeal total now stands at £131,000 and on 23 October the Lynn News is holding a special fundraising day, calling on local schools and businesses to hold their own fundraisers.

This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Health care company refuses to insure large baby - KSDK

Posted: 12 Oct 2009 07:33 AM PDT

NBC -- A Colorado baby has been denied health insurance because he's too big.

3-month-old Alex Lange's height and weight put him in the 99th percentile for size according to CDC guidelines.

His mother, Kelli Lange, says that's why he was turned down for health coverage.

Insurance standards say if a baby's above the 95 percentile, he's uninsurable.

Lange says Alex has no pre-existing conditions and she's frustrated by the decision.

NBC

This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Woman 'not bright enough' to keep baby - Communitycare.co.uk

Posted: 19 Oct 2009 05:52 AM PDT

I can't comment on this particular case but learning disability charity Mencap says that in general up to 60% of parents with a learning disability will at some point have their child taken away.

It says people with learning disabilities can be excellent parents but support must be more readily available.

This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Alex Lange Denied Health Care Coverage: "Your Baby Is Too Fat" - Huffingtonpost.com

Posted: 12 Oct 2009 11:18 PM PDT

UPDATE: Rocky Mountain Health Plans has now said it will cover Alex Lange, a baby they previously refused to give health insurance because of his weight.

Read the whole press release.

* * * * *

Four-month-old Alex Lange is described as a "happy, adorable, big baby." Yet he can't get health insurance.

Rocky Mountain Health Plans refuses to cover little Alex because he's too large. Grand Junction's NBC11News.com reports:

Because of his size, Baby Alex was turned down for health insurance, his height and weight put him in the 99th percentile according to CDC guidelines.

Kelli [his mother] says it's ridiculous, "It's frustrating, it's very frustrating."

Dr. Speedie at Rocky Mountain Health Plans says all babies are evaluated for insurance the same way. "In children it's based on a combination of height and weight."

The health insurance reform legislation moving through Congress would end this practice of denying coverage based on "pre-existing conditions" -- in Alex's case, "obesity."
The Denver Post has more:

"I could understand if we could control what he's eating. But he's 4 months old. He's breast-feeding. We can't put him on the Atkins diet or on a treadmill," joked his frustrated father, Bernie Lange, a part-time news anchor at KKCO-TV in Grand Junction. "There is just something absurd about denying an infant."

Bernie and Kelli Lange tried to get insurance for their growing family with Rocky Mountain Health Plans when their current insurer raised their rates 40 percent after Alex was born. They filled out the paperwork and awaited approval, figuring their family is young and healthy. But the broker who was helping them find new insurance called Thursday with news that shocked them.

"'Your baby is too fat,' she told me," Bernie said.

UDPATE: Bernie, Kelli, and baby Alex will all appear on MSNBC's Ed Show on Monday evening.

Here's more coverage:

This content has passed through fivefilters.org.