Fat Baby Left Without Coverage

   Colorado insurance company is changing its attitude toward fat babies.

Photo: Fat Baby Left Without Coverage

  Rocky Mountain Health Plans said Monday it will no longer consider obesity a "pre-existing condition" barring coverage for chunky infants.

  The change comes after the insurer turned down a Grand Junction 4-month-old who weighs about 17 pounds. The insurer deemed Alex Lange obese and said the infant didn't qualify for coverage.

  The infant's father works at a local NBC affiliate, KKCO-TV, and news accounts about the boy's rejection made national headlines.

  The insurer said Monday it would change its policy for babies who are healthy but fat. The company attributed the boy's rejection for health coverage to a "flaw in our underwriting system."

  The company is the same insurer praised by President Barack Obama and ruling Democrats for having one of the nation's lowest Medicare reimbursement rates. The Grand Junction-based insurer grew out of an agreement by area doctors that all would accept patients using government health insurance, lowering costs, according to the Associated Press'  report.