Insurance Code Changes Shed Light On A “Clumsy” America

Filing an insurance claim?  Think they've never heard of your bizarre claim before?  Think again.

If you've ever been injured while falling or jumping from a burning water ski, been bitten by a sea lion, walked into a lamppost or just wounded yourself crocheting, the new code to report medical diagnoses and procedures is ready for you.

Currently, hospitals and doctors use about 18,000 codes in the bills they send insurers, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. But a new federally-mandated version will expand that to 140,000 – and nail down what's wrong and where it happened to an astonishing degree.

So is society going down hill medically-speaking or are we just getting more clumsy?

There are codes, for example, for being crushed by an alligator, for being injured while piano playing, or while knitting and crocheting and for being bitten by an orca.

There are also entries for being hit or struck by a falling object due to an accident to a merchant ship, being struck by a chicken, falling out of a grocery cart and – perhaps a sign of the times – injuries due to a letter bomb.

And if you're a frenzied cleaner, don't worry: there's even a code for injuries sustained while vacuuming

New Insurance Codes Cover Entire Spectrum Of Bizarre Injuries | Fox News.