Obesity and Health Insurance
February 8th, 2009Our pre-existing medical conditions affect the cost and availability of health insurance especially in the private market.
Usually obese workers are not charged more for health insurance on their group plan, however, when they leave their jobs and seek to purchase private medical insurance, they are often charged more and sometimes they are denied coverage. Perhaps one day this will change, but this is the way that individual healthcare insurance works today in most areas of the United States.
What is considered Obese?
A BMI or Body Mass Index at or above 35 is considered obese by many private health insurance companies. You will need to check an individual insurance company’s tables for height weight to see how a particular company looks at this issue. Some companies are more liberal than others.
In some cases an extra pound or two can have a significant impact on your rate. You can check your BMI online before entering into a conversation with an agent about health insurance. If your BMI is close to or above 35, you may want to ask him or her at what point you will be considered over weight. If you are close to that number dieting for a week may mean that you pay a lower premium for the next several years.
Even if you are thin, you may want to ask if your weight will impact your coverage. Some companies have preferred ratings classes for this with BMIs that are lower than average.