At a very large hospital in my state, every maternity bed has a small
television on a moveable arm hung over the bed. Only a few breastpumps are
found on the entire unit.  Which piece of equipment is paid by insurance? Yup
- you guessed it. The hospital "room charge" includes the TVs, which have
absolutely no medical need, and insurance covers the entire room charge. I
say replace the TVs with breastpumps in every room, then at least the
insurance coverage would be for something related to the health of the mother
and baby!  But then I do have radical ideas.

BTW, this is the same hospital with racks of formula-company literature
hanging along the corridors, and posters from the same company hung on the
inside of the bathroom doors in patient rooms. Golly, I wonder who paid for
the architectural services??

Linda Smith, BSE, FACCE, IBCLC
LC in private Practice, Dayton OH