What Kathy Dettwyler just posted regarding paying out of pocket for
what one wants and needs if the contracted insurance provider won't
pay is one of the most important posts I have read here or anywhere.
Actually, it should be on the front page of every newspaper.

By allowing the insurance company the last word, the patients has
shifted the balance of power entirely into their hands.  It is also
very important to tell the plan administrator what you paid for out
of pocket and the reason why in a letter.  What is offered is based
on demand by gender and the ages of the insured pool.

Yes, so someone has to pay.  When the local member of the
Breastfeeding Network took her case of non-payment of a pump (which
she purchased for herself) as far as writing for the editorial
Opinion page of her local newspaper (which I posted to Lactnet), she
gave other mothers some ammunition and ideas they may not have
thought of as to how to put the cost justification out to the public
regarding the health care cost savings breastfeeding conveys.

Interesting that when most of us were teenagers and wanted something
our parents wouldn't pay for, we were told to find a way to pay for it
ourself, by babysitting, getting a parttime job, saving our allowance,
etc.  This manner of self-reliance seems to be lost once we're adults
paying for some immediate aspects of health care coverage.
Judy Ritchie

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