No insurance for new mother who 'didn't lose weight fast enough'

A 26-year-old new mother from Stockholm has been refused a new policy from an insurance company who told her she was still too fat for coverage.

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“I’m 26-years-old and have never been sick. This is unbelievably insulting,” Anna Holten told the Expressen newspaper.

The woman, who became a mother seven months ago, is 169 centimetres tall and weighs 100 kilogrammes.

Her measurements correspond to a Body Mass Index (BMI) of roughly 35 – a measurement which the Trygg-Hansa insurance company feels makes her too high of a risk for the health, accident, and life insurance policy Holten sought.

Upon learning of her rejection, Holten contacted the Trygg-Hansa risk analyst to explain that she was still trying to work off the weight she gained while pregnant.

“You should have lost the weight by now,” the analyst told her.

According to Trygg-Hansa product manager Björn Sporrong, people with a BMI of 35 are “extremely overweight” and right at his company’s limit for granting coverage.

“Exceedingly overweight people run a significantly higher risk for suffering from many serious diseases,” he told Expressen.

Trygg-Hansa spokesperson Malou Sjörin concurred.

“Even if you’re not sick today, you can be in the future,” Sjörin told the Metro newspaper.

The whole episode has prompted Holten to look for a new insurance company.

“It’s totally unacceptable that I’m being discriminated against because of my weight when I’m not sick,” she told Expressen.