"GRAND JUNCTION — Alex Lange is a chubby, dimpled, healthy and happy 4-month-old. But in the cold, calculating numbered charts of insurance companies, he is fat. That's why he is being turned down for health insurance. And that's why he is a weighty symbol of a problem in the health care reform debate. Insurance companies can turn down people with pre-existing conditions who aren't covered in a group health care plan. Alex's pre-existing condition — "obesity" — makes him a financial risk. Health insurance reform measures are trying to do away with such denials that come from a process called "underwriting." "If health care reform occurs, underwriting will go away. We do it because everybody else in the industry does it," said Dr. Doug Speedie, medical director at Rocky Mountain Health Plans, the company that turned down Alex." - Steven Perez from Bookmarklet

Actually in many ways "banning pre-existing conditions underwriting" is HUGE far bigger than public option. Pre-exisitng goes away and large percentage of uninsured find coverage. - WarLord

"We do it because everybody else...does it." COOL, SO I GUESS THIS MEANS I CAN SCREW AROUND ON MY WIFE AND CHEAT ON MY TAXES! anyone in the insurance industry using that as an excuse should receive a mandatory 20 year prison term without possibility of parole. - Joe The Sausage

This is ridiculous. - Kamilah Reed (K. Gill)

Sweet, the insurance companies are attacking breast feeders now. - Daniel J. Pritchett