US: Four-Month-Old Baby Turned Down for Health Insurance. He's Too 'Fat'!

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/four-month-old-baby-turned-down-healt



You would think the insurance company would want this kid to survive so he can pay premiums down the road and get denied coverage later.

I especially like that they're going to contact the parents of that infant. Not the parents of any other infants (or children/adults, for that matter) they may have denied for bogus reasons. Only the bare minimum will do when pacifying the press and the PR machine.

I just quit my job as an underwriter for a life insurance company.  To give them the benefit of the doubt, the company did say that they had flawed guidelines.  Perhaps they had an automatic denial for obesity of X% (just a general guideline without specifics for babies or children) and the baby fell into that percentage so the underwriter working this specific case didn't have the initiative to think "Hey, this is a baby.  Maybe we can make an exception."  It's not good either way but unfortunately I've seen things similar to this happen in my office.   

As a side note:  I know my daughter has always been small, but she weighed 20lbs at 2-years-old...this baby weighs 17lbs at 4 months...just saying...

As a side note:  I know my daughter has always been small, but she weighed 20lbs at 2-years-old...this baby weighs 17lbs at 4 months...just saying...

I read the original Denver Post article on this case.  http://www.denverpost.com/commented/ci_13530098?source=commented-news  They show an actual icture of the baby, and he's not particularly fat.  He's not a Michelin-man baby.  He's just really big for his age.  That article pointed out that, in addition to weight, he's also in the 99th percentile for height.  His pediatrician isn't at all concerned, and neither are his parents.  They realize he'll most likely grow out of it once he starts running around. 

There's a wide range of 'normal,' especially for infants...just saying...

That kid's enormous! I don't mean fat, either - just really long and stocky. Wow.

My daughter was also a teeny babe. She's four now and weighs forty pounds. Those height and weight charts are pretty spot-on - she been on the 50 percentile line for weight and the 75 percentile line for height her entire life, never deviated. I don't know if I'd know what to do with a "chunky monkey" like that. 

yep, my son wasn't that big, but he is pretty darn big. He's almost 40 pounds now at 18 months. and in the 90s for height.

Good thing that 19lb newborn doesn't live in the US.

I had to laugh, who ever heard of a "too fat" four month old? Especially if he's breast fed.

As a side note:  I know my daughter has always been small, but she weighed 20lbs at 2-years-old...this baby weighs 17lbs at 4 months...just saying...

My boy was 18lbs at 4 months, 90th percentile does happen! 

As a former large baby (over 8 lbs at birth) and the sister of a former large baby (over 9 lbs at birth) and the wife of a former large baby (over 9 lbs at birth), I have to say that I find this :

As a side note:  I know my daughter has always been small, but she weighed 20lbs at 2-years-old...this baby weighs 17lbs at 4 months...just saying...

and this :

That kid's enormous! I don't mean fat, either - just really long and stocky. Wow.
.... I don't know if I'd know what to do with a "chunky monkey" like that. 

rather offensive.  It's subtle attitudes like that which perpetuate the marginalisation of large people.  Some people are just big.  It's not their fault and it doesn't make them inferior to smaller people.  Calling someone else's child a "chunky monkey" is no more appropriate than making personal comments about large adults, or any size of adult for that matter.  He'll likely have enough to deal with from the other kids on the playground, he doesn't need it from grown-ups as well.   

Calling someone else's child a "chunky monkey" is no more appropriate than making personal comments about large adults, or any size of adult for that matter. 

The phrase chunky monkey was a quote from the parents in the article, thus the " ".  I don't think cellardoor was making a dig.

I find it strange (considering what a huge issue obesity and the health effects are) that the doctors think the baby will "out grow" being overweight (most studies I've seen show that is not true) and they aren't concerned with this or viewing it as a problem.  Yes he is a big boy (height wise) and looks quite solid, but I have honestly never seen a baby (at any age) that fat in my life...I mean honestly look at the size of his legs.  Of course, that's just my personal experience and obviously not a representation of every baby in the world.  So having an obese baby is fine, you can just say "Oh well, he's a big boy"...but have a baby that's on the low end of the percentiles and you're going to be sent to 100 specialists and the doctors are going to make you think your baby is going to die of starvation every day.  Would have saved me a lot of hassle, time and money if I could have just said "Oh well, she's a small girl" and got away with it.  Percentile double-standards...nice.

As a former large baby (over 8 lbs at birth) and the sister of a former large baby (over 9 lbs at birth) and the wife of a former large baby (over 9 lbs at birth), I have to say that I find this :

and this :

rather offensive.  It's subtle attitudes like that which perpetuate the marginalisation of large people.  Some people are just big.  It's not their fault and it doesn't make them inferior to smaller people.  Calling someone else's child a "chunky monkey" is no more appropriate than making personal comments about large adults, or any size of adult for that matter.  He'll likely have enough to deal with from the other kids on the playground, he doesn't need it from grown-ups as well.   

Not sure how you find comparing the weight of children with absolutely no connotation one way or the other to be offensive...but sorry if you were offended in any way.  (I myself weighed 10 pounds at birth, yet I was extremely underweight until I was about 20-years-old).  I was actually using that as an example to show both extremes of weight differences (which I explained above...and have also talked about in other posts as some people will surely remember because of all the issues I had with my daughter).  Also, if you read the article, it was the parents of the child who called him "chunky monkey."

I call myself fat but I don't necessarily appreciate other people saying it. It's never appropriate to make comments like that, even if you are "quoting" a person who is more directly involved.  Or saying "Wow look how big he is!  Look at the size of his legs!"  Et cetera. Would you say things like that to his face or his parents' faces?  My brother looked like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man when he was 4 months (and yes, I can say that because he's my brother and has the option of kicking my a$$) but was skinny as a rail at 14.  So yes, "fat" babies can grow out of it.  I can't comment on the treatment of small babies because I have no experience of them, but I can tell you that I would never look at a picture of a small baby and say "Wow!  Look how scrawny he is!  Look at his stick arms!  Don't his parents feed him?"     

I call myself fat but I don't necessarily appreciate other people saying it. It's never appropriate to make comments like that, even if you are "quoting" a person who is more directly involved.  Or saying "Wow look how big he is!  Look at the size of his legs!"  Et cetera. Would you say things like that to his face or his parents' faces?  My brother looked like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man when he was 4 months (and yes, I can say that because he's my brother and has the option of kicking my a$$) but was skinny as a rail at 14.  So yes, "fat" babies can grow out of it.  I can't comment on the treatment of small babies because I have no experience of them, but I can tell you that I would never look at a picture of a small baby and say "Wow!  Look how scrawny he is!  Look at his stick arms!  Don't his parents feed him?"     

Well there is a double-standard (imposed by society) that makes it "ok" to say a baby is fat (because this is usually equated to being cute...for whatever reason) but it's not ok to call a baby skinny.  Some people might disagree with that but how many times have you heard things like this:  "Look how cute those big fat cheeks.  I just want to squeeze them." or "Look at his cute little roly-poly legs.  I'm gonna eat them up." etc.  You don't really hear "That baby's ribs are poking through his skin.  That's so cute."  It may not be fair, it's just a way of society (which doesn't make it right or wrong, btw).  Having said that, would I walk up to his parents and say "Wow, that's a big baby"?  Well no, because I'm stuck up and I don't talk to strangers.  But I would surely tell my hubby about the big baby I saw when I got home!  There are a lot of things that people say about other people...that they would never say to their faces, especially if they are strangers (because they don't want to hurt their feelings, because they don't want to seem rude, etc).  To me that's kinda like saying, would you walk up to a complete stranger and tell her that her clothes don't match and she looks ridiculous?  No, but you'd probably tell your friend about it later. 

I find it strange (considering what a huge issue obesity and the health effects are) that the doctors think the baby will "out grow" being overweight (most studies I've seen show that is not true) and they aren't concerned with this or viewing it as a problem. 

He FOUR MONTHS OLD! Even if it IS  a problem, how do you propose they fix it? By putting him on a diet? An excersise program? Maybe enroll him in Weight Watchers? Buy him a copy of Vogue and hope the shame of it will finally make him change his lifestyle?

To me that's kinda like saying, would you walk up to a complete stranger and tell her that her clothes don't match and she looks ridiculous?  No, but you'd probably tell your friend about it later. 

I wouldn't, actually.  I stopped making fun of people's clothes when I finished puberty.  This is what I mean by "subtle attitudes," though.  We seem to think it's OK to make cruel judgements about people as long as we don't say anything to their faces.  But those judgements inform our behaviour nonetheless and continue to influence us even when we are aware that they're wrong.