During a physical in 2003 my uric acid numbers were high in my blood test. So, my Dr. Suggested and prescribed allopurinol 100 mg a day. I took it for a while and after about a year I stopped taking it.

I've had no problems with gout... That I know of or sought treatment for.

But recently we moved from one state to another. We had blue cross blue shield insurance so we just moved it from the previous bcbs to the current state's bcbs. However, since I put the gout word on my application bcbs has first declined my initial application and then when bcbs forced them to accept my policy they raised the $365 premium I had at my old state to $2,048 a month at my new state.

They have claimed it's because I have both "hypertension" and "gout" combined. Even though i've never had a gout attack or any problems from my hypertension they claim that the two together are a serious problem for health insurance carriers.

Have any of you other folks run into this problem? I have no major medical problems of any kind and have only rarely even had more then $250 in claims in any year. So, i'm having a hard time understanding how high blood pressure and gout could cause such a response.

Thanks