Insurance company caught with hand in cookie jar. Insurance company claims it was all a silly mistake in the ensuing public furor and they never meant to deny coverage to anyone, especially cute, little babies.

Fill one coverage spot and remove another is what they'll do.

For victims of for-profit-insurance, it's a never ending game of Whack-a -Mole in trying to get the insurance companies to pay for healthcare.

They only got frightened by the news coverage, not from denying healthcare.

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underwriting system = active denial/death panels

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This should be a profound reminder that people can be defined as having a pre-existing condition at birth and be denied health insurance and health cover for the remainder of their bound to suffer in silence until an early death life, an incredibly cruel system.

If they "fold" this easily, let's go to the streets.

The "World's Best Health Care" , huh ? I don't think so. The only reason these corporate scum are changing their position is because they got caught.

Insurance companies are not the solution- THEY ARE THE PROBLEM.

I cannot believe that the United States Congress is considering mandatory participation in this criminal insurance racket. Single payer medicare based coverage is the only option that won't screw the American workers. The health insurance industry needs to be shut down before they further damage this great nation.

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Mandatory coverage isn't a big deal if there is a sound public option. It's no different than everyone with a job having payroll taxes withheld to cover a single payer system. Of course, that also requires constraints on Insurance companies, which they are fighting.. such as they can not deny any claim, period.. and they can not refuse to take someone on to their insurance, period. If those two things are met, and there's a non-profit public option, the right-winger are correct.. we'll "effectively have" a single payer in 10 years (because everyone will flee the abusive for-profit companies and take the public option).

Why the right-wing is so bent on having everything in our existence be "for-profit" is beyond me. Greed and ignorance; I just can't relate.

As with everything, it's how it's implemented, not just the concept.

BUT, BUT, BUT the teabaggy asses defend these companies and are against health care for the average American because they hate President Obama.

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Why on earth do people need to cover their children separately? Doesn't "family coverage" take care of infants? why not?

This is a HUGE part of the problem we have in a for-profit world. Everything is itemized and charged for separately if it can be, that maximizes profits.

We all just want to live our lives. Why can't we find a way to do that without having to be slaves to those that came before and have squatted on all the natural resources? Why does everyone want to live like gods among men so badly that they tolerate such a broken system and mind set?

So now we all know what to do when insurance companies deny coverage - we contact the press. Then the insurers don't want the bad publicity, so they quickly reverse themselves.

When my second child was born, he the same weight as his brother, but was 2 inches shorter. The pediatrician told me, "Put that baby on a diet!" Not being the hysterical type, I completely ignored her and fed him when he was hungry. At 6 months, he was at exactly the same height/weight that his brother had been. But at least the insurance company didn't try to deny coverage.

Fucking flaw my ass!!!!!

yeah those darned underwriters, man they cant read the durned paperwork can they? always the same. the exec's just werent aware of it?

sheeessssshhhhhh huh?

doesn't this show that our useless excuse for media has failed to shine a light on all the misconduct by the health insurance companies for years? Where were they while things were progressively going to crap? Shameful.

It appears few of you know anything about insurance. If you own a home and want to insure it, do you expect the insurance company to write coverage if you have flames licking out of the 2nd story window (a pre-existing condition)? I doubt it. If so, I don't want to be in your "insurance pool." If you insure a car, would you expect a company to cover a driver with 6 DUI tickets, a reckless driving and 3 accidents on his record? If a company would write coverage, how much would they charge? Again, I don't want to be in that pool. My point is, insurance is for covering risks that you are unwilling or unable to pay on your own. As for this story, it's about one small insurance company in Colorado, probably a stinking HMO, which is, by the way, exactly what you'll get with universal health care; a lousy but very expensive HMO type plan. Be careful of what you want - you may get it. And there's no going back once a government run health insurance program is in place.

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Dear richek,
I can choose which house to buy...
I can choose what car to lease...
I can choose which boat to float...

WHAT I CAN NOT CHOOSE IS A LIFE ALTERING ACCIDENT

I will get a new car...
I will get a new home...
I will get a boat to float...

BUT I WILL NOT GET A NEW ME!

In fact, and all probability, Insurance Companies would rake every charged procedure over a fine toothed comb just to find THAT ONE REASON to deny me so! Be it a shot, an x-ray, or medication. As long as Insurance Companies are in the position deciding IF I get necessary treatment, AFFORDABLY, or I have to pay for it out the whazoo.

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You're kind of stupid, aren't ya.

A government run insurance plan means the public has some control over the whole thing. Since it's a non-profit, our costs will be lower for better coverage. THAT is the real "fear" here, by the industry. They won't be able to make profits from people wanting to live without pain, disfigurement, or disease.. booooo hoooo! Can't profit by abusing the sick and dying! oh no.. cry some more.

your assertion that single payer is "a stinking HMO" is baseless. Other countries that have it have better care, better results, healthier people who live longer, and a population (in general) who would never give up their care. The only people against such systems are those that think they are better than everyone else (apparently evidenced by their higher income or wealth passed on from mommy and daddy), so they want a system in place that favors them because of their money. I've got one thing to say to that .. F*ck you. Everyone has equal rights to certain core things, and you want to shit on those rights because you have money and they don't.

At the end of the day, we have to decide as a people what things are off limits to profit on. Some people think everything is fair game, others think we should try to keep the game fair. Being healthy shouldn't bankrupt you, not in a technologically advanced civilized society. Greed has run amuck in America, and it's destroying us. It's destroying the world. We need to apply some sense and restraint, not more rampant greed and abuses so the few can live like gods while the masses are relegated to squalor. Humans are better than that; most of us are, anyway.

Hmmm. So if an insurance company is forced to provide coverage to fat children, wouldn't it be age discrimination if they refused to cover fat adults? If the brat AND the adult both have a BMI of, say, 29 yet the brat gets insured and the adult doesn't...how is that NOT discriminatory?

richek:
A fat healthy baby is the same risk as a house on fire? And a house on fire is a pre-existing condition? I don't think so. Faulty wiring is a pre-existing condition. A house on fire is one possible result. At any rate, for-profit insurance is not there to help you. You're there to help it turn a profit. Maybe you've been held up by the insurance industry so long, that you're happy with the crumbs they are currently throwing you and oblivious to the fact that your insurance bill is needlessly higher than any other place on the planet. Maybe you're not aware of it because you get it through an employer. But if that employer values you, he could pay you more if he didn't have to pay your ever increasing insurance premiums. And he could sell his product for less if he didn't have to pass it all along to his customers. And it's going to continue as long as these unnecessary middlemen have things all their own way.

Don't get complacent.. The actuaries just figured they were taking a bigger loss with the bad PR than they were gaining by excluding this type of coverage...