re average hourly rates and LC insurance reimbursement

Sadly, it seems that there were real problems with the survey.  
The calculations may seem like a great place for the insurance companies to negotiate down from.
However, those numbers quite simply do not apply to what we are talking about here.
Perhaps those numbers would better suit quick evaluations by LC's who are working in hospitals.  They do not pay for their equipment, scales, supplies, vehicle, health insurance, liability insurance, professional memberships, disability insurance, computers, marketing, continuing education (and good IBCLC's often spend thousands of dollars per year on continuing education) AND an LC in a hospital is paid for ALL of her hours, including those spent on paperwork, in house continuing ed, vacation and sick time, etc. 
Honestly, a lactation consultant should be charging for her specialized services on par with what a physician would charge for a home visit.  $300 seems to be the  norm here, but only because women have been feeling bad for mothers and babies and doing it almost as volunteer work.  That is right, at $300, we are still donating a good portion of our value for the benefit of mothers and babies.  Do we ask doctors to donate their value and discount their rates like this?
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Home visits provide a unique opportunity for mothers to receive help nursing in different positions and even having weighed feeds in different positions.  I cannot fathom, by the way, how an IBCLC could possibly do an oral exam or otherwise assess the baby or the mother's breasts or help her with positioning and weighed feeds via Skype.  Sadly, mothers will see that Aetna sanctions this practice and will choose to use an in network provider who lives in another state (or country?!) rather than hiring real, in-person help nearby.  The mothers will never know why they couldn't breastfeed; they'll tell everyone that they "even hired a lactation consultant and the lactation consultant couldn't help."  Too bad that Aetna fooled them into thinking that breastfeeding is something that can be shown with a doll over Skype and that a lactation consultant does't need to check the baby's palate or tongue or suck or anything else.  I can only imagine how sucking exercises will be taught and what will happen when Aetna realizes that "poor women" don't own expensive webcams and great computers (with fiberoptic internet connections), and that even on an average webcam things are far too pixelated to see clearly.  And even if a  mother's only problem were with positioning (doubtful), then are we now to expect her to be able to hold a webcam over her baby's mouth while she is trying to position herself, the baby and her breast?!  It is becoming more clear that Aetna is not really worried about helping "women who cannot otherwise afford a lactation consultant."  The need has arisen for insurance companies to cover lactation support.  The desire is also there because it has become clear that supporting breastfeeding will save insurance companies large amounts of money.  Why shouldn't this cost savings be used to pay IBCLC's ?  I think that down the road it will be, but not until the insurance companies see that, in the end, by and large, they will be getting what they pay for.  Mothers will not be receiving good help, and breastfeeding success rates will not rise.  
As for insurance companies not being able to pay for travel time--it really irks me to hear flat out statements such as this from insurance companies.  I would hope that those negotiating on our behalf are more sophisticated than falling for an argument like that.  The insurance company and the mothers and babies all benefit from home visits, and this aspect is particularly unique to this profession.  If they don't want to say they're reimbursing for travel, then by god, include an up charge for the fact that it is a home visit. 
Do we have a law firm representing us in these negotiations?
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