BMI Calculators

Okay - I haven't been denied (yet) - in fact, my appeal should go in next week - but my BMI when estimated with the online estimators is in the Level 2 range (34-37%) for the past 3 years - and I was just FINALLY able to get an official 2008 weight for me today - unfortunately (!) I'd been sick when I went to the emergi-care place, so it was "only" 198!

And - I've been terribly afraid that my co-morbidities just aren't bad enough (yet) at that BMI to tip me over the edge for approval.

However, I'm short and small boned (not that you'd know it right now)... and the online BMI calculators just seem so rough: height + weight, no allowances given to sex, or age,  or build, let alone boob size!!  So - had an epiphany tonight and stopped by my old gym to see if they had calipers - they do, but also they had a Body Logic machine by Omron, which measured me (pause here for drumroll) with a body fat of 43.5!% and 90# of fat!!  (acckkk!!!)  The gym guy said it was at least as accurate as calipers.

So - NOW - I think - MAYBE???  I have enough information/evidence to get approval. IF the insurance accepts body fat instead of BMI???

BUT - has anyone else been successful with using an alternate BMI measurement device to get approval??

Excited - feeling positive for the first time in MONTHS!!!

Sheri (Aetna)

 Hi there!  

Isn't it amazing that *we* have to find solutions to problems professionals face every day?  As in the calipers - brilliant, brilliant!  (I also have to love anyone who says orthogonal in her profile!) 

Has Aetna been a stickler for weight records?  Sigh.  I try to forget the overall idiocy of American style insurance and just provide.  

I might have missed it someplace -- do you have your date?  I'd love to know so I can cheer you on!

I don't get a date until I have approval from Aetna. 

I hope they're not sticklers, but my PCP simply didn't have a weight in 2008 - only 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010. I also somehow managed to skip my ob-gyn appt in 2008.  Have been racking my wee brain for two weeks and despairing... suddenly realized I'd had an ear infection in Oct 2008 and had gone to a Patient First place on a Saturday night.

None of those dates have caliper measurements, tho.  I'm wondering if I should get caliper measurements on Monday to corroborate the Omron device's assessment of 43.5 % bodyfat.

Funny thing:  The guy at the gym was a bit taken aback when the device's results appeared and I started jumping up and down in excitement!!!  He'd offered to show me how to use it and let me take it to the bathroom to use in privacy - but I declined - too many buttons - just enter the numbers:  height, weight, age, sex, then hold onto the metal handles while it runs a signal (a low degree of electricity, I think??) from one hand to the other.

I'm going to include a photo of me with my daughters and a personal letter with my PCP's letter of medical necessity.

"Orthogonal" is a word used fairly often in my extended family, so I can't really take all that much credit for it!!

Sheri

You know, in cir****tances like this, I find my moral compass shuddering a a bit and I think "Can't the doctor just write something down in the chart?  UGH.  Couldn't the doc "estimate" or "remember"
what your weights have been?

 They can't go back and change their files (anyhow, my docs' charts are all electronic). Not unless they want to risk a lawsuit for insurance fraud.

Sheri

 So -  with a body fat of 43.5% and 90# of fat - does anyone know if the insurance company considers body fat in addition to BMI???

Sheri