Comments on: Denied Health Insurance

By: Farrin

Farrin — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 04:42:38 +0000

I’m glad you finally got covered. I unfortunately am not married and my mom can’t afford to add me to her policy. I don’t have employment right now and being my height/weight I am having a hard time finding work..being only 20 and weighing 322.5lbs… I keep getting denied from everyone I apply to..

By: trosen

trosen — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 16:13:31 +0000

Good for you!!! 55 pounds and still counting, I bet you look and feel great!! Only 45 more to go to goal – you will make it!

Your motivation story is a good one that highlights the pitfalls within our society when it comes to health insurance. The idea that as Americans we want to not only have our cake and eat it, but when we get sick as a result we want someone else to pay the tab. You wouldn’t expect to be in several car accidents that were your fault in a year and still be able to purchase car insurance, correct? Yet we treat our bodies like they will last forever, like we need to do nothing to maintaint them, like we can eat every unhealthy thing under the sun and gain weight like crazy and the insurance company should pay for all the heart attacks, diabetees, and strokes that result!
If not for those denials you might never had faced up to your obesity. You may have never realized you were a walking death trap…by you being motivated you added years onto your life.
Now, you could have continued on your parents insurance for 18 months through a COBRA program, but after that the result would have been the same.
I am glad you took responsibility for your own plight, you took a look at the man in the mirror and you made the change you needed to make – and good for you!!

By: yellowdog

yellowdog — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:59:45 +0000

Same thing happened to me when I tried to sign up for supplementary life insurance through my employer about a year into my job. Got a letter in the mail a week or two later that said I fell out of their height/weight parameters for coverage. End of discussion; no appeals process; I was simply denied.

It was quite a shock, especially since I didn’t think my weight was all that out of proportion to my taller frame, and since I didn’t know they *could* deny coverage.

Thank heavens I had automatically signed up for health coverage when I was hired on, or all the medical bills in my little family these last few months would have literally driven me into bankruptcy. Strange rules in the insurance world.

By: Coryad

Coryad — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:38:05 +0000

Insurance companies suck. Period. I think your story is so ironic, yet typical *eye roll*
Keep up the excellent work! I visit every day to see how you’re doing :)

By: Cubziz

Cubziz — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 19:47:17 +0000

After getting laid off a few years back, I thought the same about insurance, but repeatedly I was denied, so I quickly took the Cobra offering I had. It was insanely expensive, but better than no coverage.

But the clock was ticking. Tick tick tick. 18 months later, I ended up having to switch jobs simply because my Cobra was running out and the consulting company I worked for bait-and-switched my insurance the day I came in to accept the job. (Before they saw me, they offered insurance. When I arrived, I was told that they no longer offered it and my only option was to not take the job.)

Sadly, I have aspirations to lose weight, but the only steps I seem to climb lately is my weight chart. But I’ve been reading your progress and hope to refocus my efforts here soon (partner just got laid off, so work is harder than ever and stress is my biggest trigger).