Girls Denied Insurance Because of Online Revelations

Every college girl has been alerted to the fact that they should detag incriminating pictures or take down inappropriate quotes from online profiles because it could harm the status of a future internship, job, or even college application. That’s all common sense at this point.

But now, common problems for young females such as eating disorders are being used as evidence by an insurance company to not insure them. An article in the New Jersey Law Journal details this surprising case.

Apparently certain girls were denied health insurance by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield because of online writings and posts pointing to “emotional” causes of disorders such as bulimia and anorexia. Why would this matter whether it was emotionally or biologically based? Here’s the catch:

The insurer is only required to pay for illnesses that are biologically based, so they are attempting to prove through facebook, myspace, etc. that the reasons behind them are purely emotional.

The article goes on to say that, “Judge Patty Shwartz ordered the plaintiffs to turn over by Jan. 15 the children’s e-mails, diaries and other writings about their “eating disorders or manifestations/symptoms thereof, and related health conditions” that had been “shared with others, including entries on Web sites such as ‘Facebook’ or ‘MySpace.’”

In my opinion, there are two things to be learned here:

1) BE CAREFUL about what you put out there on the internet. If you are hesitant about sharing something, then it’s probably a good idea if you don’t. You never know what can and will be used against you in the future.

2) Our health insurance system in America is MESSED up. The fact that companies are trying every way to NOT provide insurance to people that will most likely need it at some point is extremely scary. I hope that our next president will work to change the healthcare system…

What do you girls think? Have you had any other scary experiences with online sites being used against you?