Barbara,

Not all of that $27,000 was profit of course. Much of it went to pay the
medical bills for babies and mothers who did not have the protective
benefits of breastfeeding!

Seriously, before we think about ways to get pumps for mothers returning
to work covered by insurance, let us find ways to get pumps covered for
mothers whose premature and otherwise fragile babies who are no longer
actually hospitalized but are unable to adequately stimulate and remove
from the breast the quantities of milk they need daily. The process is
too unwieldy in too many situations.

Last week, before I even considered requesting a statement of medical
need from her family doctor, I got this runaround while inquiring for a
privately insured WIC client. It involved numerous long distance
telephone calls around the state to find which of her plan's contracted
durable goods agencies served our area. Then, there was a 48 hour delay
while they awaited an answer from the powers-that-be about the faxed
question of coverage.

The ultimate answer I received was that there would be a "two week
waiting period while it was being considered." Not good enough for a
situation which was foreseen in the hospital. It was one that they too
were unable or unwilling to make arrangements for on discharge, even
though it was in their L&D she had received her first encouragement to
try when premature birth became a certainty.

In the meantime, the mother had had it with attempting to prolong her
supply with the various single hand pumps she had been provided to try
out. Despite our encouragement and statements about the immunities she
had supplied with the 1 or 2 bottles of EBM she had been providing daily,
she decided it was simpler to give ABM and go on with her plans to get
ready to return to work in 3 weeks.

K. Jean Cotterman RNC, IBCLC
Dayton, OH

.

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