Can Being Overweight Prevent You From Obtaining Health Insurance?

During the past 10 years there has been a dramatictogether.
upturn in Obesity and overweight adults in AmericaCertain combinations of these will result in a decline for
and as you can imagine it has had a serious costhealth coverage. Excess Weight Affect Your Health
impact on the U.S. health care system. While manyand Cost of Health care? While many overweight
consumers who are denied health insurance coverageindividuals may feel they are being railroaded by the
for being overweight or rated with a "fat tax" may feelinsurers, the conclusion is that between 2 and 7% of all
that they are being jilted by the insurance underwritinghealth care cost are associated with overweight and
system. Fair or not treatment for health issuesobesity, which resulted from health issues associated
associated with overweight and obese individuals doeswith the treatment of the overweight factors such as
have significant repercussions on the economy andhypertension, insulin resistance or diabetes, high
the overall cost of health care.cholesterol, cardiac conditions, certain forms of cancer,
The underwriters use a system for determining yourrespiratory issues, inactivity, absenteeism from work,
height and weight calculations to determine acceptablemortality cost, and loss of family income from
ranges. The correlation of the two defines a numberpremature death. What You can Do to Obtain
called the BMI or " body mass index" and gives theApproval For A Health Insurance Policy If you believe
underwriters an estimate of body fat. According to theyou may be overweight and may not qualify for
department of human health services a BMI of 30 isindividual or family health coverage, you can take a
considered obese and 25 to 29.9 is overweight. If yourfew precautions prior to submitting a health application.
BMI is higher than 43 you will not likely qualify forYou should find a qualified health insurance broker who
traditional health insurance coverage. If your BMI isoffers more than one carrier's products and is
between 29-43, a health insurer may choose to offerknowledgeable about some of the underwriting
you health insurance with a rated up premium. If yourequirements or is able to research the best plan for
have pre-existing health issues in relation to youryou.
weight, such as diabetes, hypertension or heartYou can complete a prescreen application which will
disease, a health insurer may deny you coverageallow the broker to communicate with underwriters the
altogether, even if your BMI is within range. In additionissues prior to submitting the application and improve
to the BMI the belly fat or waist circumference is ayour chances of approval and avoid a potential decline.
good indicator of future health problems associatedA decline can really be detrimental to obtaining
with excess weight such as type 2 diabetes andcreditable coverage. You should also review the BMI
hypertension.tables while not all tables are the same this will give
Overweight inactive individuals with a propensity toyou an idea of how close or far you are from current
store excess stomach fat will eventually experiencehealthy body mass index levels for your height. Lastly
insulin resistance, and or other heart health issues.consider improving your health for your own benefit by
When underwriters review an application and see thatstarting some basic exercise like walking 30 minutes a
an applicant has a combination of these pre-existingday, educating yourself about nutritious foods,
conditions a red flag is immediately raised regarding theeliminating empty calories like sugar and saturated fats
application. Underwriters have certain risk criteria theyand creating a lifestyle that makes you feel good,
use when combining your BMI with other risk factorsmakes you productive, make you look great, reverse
such as smoking, and the health issues previouslysome health problems altogether and extend your life
mentioned that might be exacerbated when combinedand most of all affords you quality health insurance.