I have a bizarre but unfortunate story to share and I hope by publicizing it I might be able to prevent it from happening to someone else.
I went to a nurse practitioner last week for an annual physical that is required by my company (this is the first time I've had to do it since I just started there last year).
Anyway, when the NP weighed me, I saw the scale balance between 177 and 178, though she did it so quickly I barely had time to take note. I had weighed myself at the gym last week and was 176.5, so I knew that was about right. But for some reason, she said "180" and wrote that down on my chart. I really didn't think anything of it at the time. She did the rest of the exam very fast, nothing unusual, so I signed the paperwork and left.
Yesterday, I received a letter form my company that my health insurance premium would be going up by $68 per month! The reason given is that I am "overweight," based on the recent physical.
So I fished out the paperwork I had never really looked at, and sure enough that girl had checked the "overweight" box on my report and noted at the bottom, "BMI = 25.1"
Then I asked my friend who is a nurse and she explained the whole BMI thing to me. It turns out I am right around a 25. BUT if the correct weight of 177 or 178 had been written down, my BMI would have been a bit under 25, like 24.8 or something. (I am 5'11" tall, which is also what the NP had written down; I am a 32-yr old male).
I was furious. For whatever reason, the girl being lazy or in a hurry, or just wanting to use round numbers, decided to round my weight up to 180. And because of that, it triggered a BMI of above 25. The more I think about it, the more I realize she was young and kind of ditzy, and definitely in a rush while checking me, but I just didn't care at the time. I wanted to get in and out and have the thing done with. Big mistake.
I called the NP's office and my insurance company but they said there is nothing I can do....I signed the papers. They said I will have to wait until next year's physical and see if the recorded weight is lower before I can possibly get a lower insurance rate.
I am so mad. Please, everyone, take note of what weight the doctor/nurse writes down. It could make a huge difference and you don't know it until it's too late.
I went to a nurse practitioner last week for an annual physical that is required by my company (this is the first time I've had to do it since I just started there last year).
Anyway, when the NP weighed me, I saw the scale balance between 177 and 178, though she did it so quickly I barely had time to take note. I had weighed myself at the gym last week and was 176.5, so I knew that was about right. But for some reason, she said "180" and wrote that down on my chart. I really didn't think anything of it at the time. She did the rest of the exam very fast, nothing unusual, so I signed the paperwork and left.
Yesterday, I received a letter form my company that my health insurance premium would be going up by $68 per month! The reason given is that I am "overweight," based on the recent physical.
So I fished out the paperwork I had never really looked at, and sure enough that girl had checked the "overweight" box on my report and noted at the bottom, "BMI = 25.1"
Then I asked my friend who is a nurse and she explained the whole BMI thing to me. It turns out I am right around a 25. BUT if the correct weight of 177 or 178 had been written down, my BMI would have been a bit under 25, like 24.8 or something. (I am 5'11" tall, which is also what the NP had written down; I am a 32-yr old male).
I was furious. For whatever reason, the girl being lazy or in a hurry, or just wanting to use round numbers, decided to round my weight up to 180. And because of that, it triggered a BMI of above 25. The more I think about it, the more I realize she was young and kind of ditzy, and definitely in a rush while checking me, but I just didn't care at the time. I wanted to get in and out and have the thing done with. Big mistake.
I called the NP's office and my insurance company but they said there is nothing I can do....I signed the papers. They said I will have to wait until next year's physical and see if the recorded weight is lower before I can possibly get a lower insurance rate.
I am so mad. Please, everyone, take note of what weight the doctor/nurse writes down. It could make a huge difference and you don't know it until it's too late.