Source: Julie Appleby, USA Today

Soon after a pediatrician noted in his medical records that 5-year-old Logan Swaim was short for his age, his mother, Theresa, tried to buy health insurance.

Her husband, William, had started his own landscaping business after being laid off, and the insurance he got from his former employer was about to expire. Two insurers accepted the Swaims and three of their children for new coverage, but they rejected Logan, fearing his height — 40½ inches — might indicate a glandular problem that could be expensive to treat.

For two years, the Swaims paid all of Logan’s medical bills themselves, about $4,300. Eventually they got test results showing there was nothing wrong with him. Even so, the insurers wouldn’t cover him, Theresa Swaim says, because the time to appeal the denial of coverage had expired. 

Read Full Article: Individual health policies leave many behind