As a mother, hearing the words, “your child is not covered by medical insurance” was akin to the words “high risk pregnancy” when I was pregnant with both of my children.  But to hear that he was being declined for a neurological disorder (which is not being treated medically), and for other disorders for which he doesn’t even have, raised my blood pressure to a place it’s not been since, well, never actually.

 

I thought I was being diligent and thorough when I took my child to the doctor to find out what was going on with him.  I even thought, when taking him to various specialists, that I was doing an even better job.  What I was actually doing however, was setting him up for potentially damaging “profiling” for his future medical coverage with those two horrific words that every insurer loves to use when denying coverage…”pre-existing condition”.

 

I am hopeful that my pending call to his pediatrician will reverse this decision.  In the meantime, I urge all parents to get a copy of your child’s (and yours for that matter) medical records.  Review them for accuracy.  If a condition was researched and found benign, make sure your records reflect this. 

 

With the amount of people being laid off and losing their medical benefits, many will need to either seek out private insurance or sadly, forgo it all together.  What they may not know, and need to be prepared for, is that a group insurance policy can be much broader than a privately-secured policy.  Things that once were covered may no longer be.

 

So, just like you check your credit report every year, get into the habit of checking your and your family’s medical records as well.  And hopefully, should you ever be in the situation I am, you won’t hear the scariest 5 words I’ve ever heard…”your child is not covered.”