Janet, MORBID obesity is indeed, based on BMI and concurrent symptoms, a qualifier. It is 'obestity' or being 'overweight' or what makes people percieve you as 'fat and lazy' as opposed to 'can't help it, you're ill' that makes the difference.
The thing with arthritis is that you can be fifty or so pounds overweight, it is beating crap out of your joints, but if you don't hit that BMI figure, tough luck.
It is almost as if you are expected to gain more weight intentionally in order to be 'really sick' as opposed to 'just' being fat.
My 'dad' died of morbid obesity in '81. He was 48 years old.
Thing of it is that at least for me, I can feel as little as a five pound change in weight on my joints, and feel it strongly.
With ins you get this sort of 'chinese menu' thing where they might say, BMI of xxx+symptomology+MH status...and yes, with ins caps, lobbying, and all the like, there IS a strong movement towards 'you caught it, you clean it' when it comes to benefits.
