How To Get Free Breast Pump Covered By Insurance

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could get the cost of breast pump 100% covered by insurance company? With the cost of best quality breast pump that can reach around USD300 each. Plus, we’re not even use for years to come.

free breast pump through insurance

But, how?

Will my insurance plan covered this?

How to process it? Do I need to provide any proof documents?

If my plan did, what type of breast pump they offered? Manual or automatic?

And yet, does this plan benefit really exist?

Have anyone try and get it before?

The ANSWER is,

YES, we are talking about some insurance companies who do cover breast pump expenses.

What Will You Get In This Post?

What insurance companies that covered breast pump?

In this post you will get the exact insurance company that cover breast pumplist of insurance company that have covered breast pump. Although it still not confirm you anything even though your insurers might in the list, because you still need to confirm with them what types of plan did you subscribed. But still, it will definitely provide you some bright.

What Type of Breast Pump Covered?

If your insurers did covered a types of breast pumppump, is it enough? What will happen if you just get a manual pump? Sure enough, in this post you will also be reveal what types of pump will you get.

Image courtesy of WiseBaby

What should you ask them to get your pump?

So now, you will know if your call insurance company for breast pumpinsurers might in the list below or not. Yes or no, you still need to call and make a deal how to process and get your pump. To help your process even more easier, we just outline 8 at least questions that you need to confirm with them in order to smooth your request.

Who can help you to request?

As you might think right now, help to call insurance company for breast pumpthey will be some hassle to settle this down. With at least 8 questions, and they need to confirm if you are really have right to request. For sure it’s going to takes quite sometimes to carry out. But, believe or not, they will some group of suppliers that will help you with this for free. We just list a few of them for you.

Anything else?

We try our best to make this need your commentspost fit to really help you out especially for young mothers. That’s why we try to cover any aspect to make this post really come in handy. If you still find some loophole or if anything that you can add, please leave us a comment or contact us. Let us share great things together.

The objective of this article is to help you understand how we can all afford breast pump through insurance.

To make this happen, we need to know which companies cover this benefit and how to obtain it for ourselves. This answer is what you will get in this post.

Another important aspect to notice here is that by the end of this article, you may be very eager to give a call to your insurance company. But, what should you ask them?

Don’t worry about this, as I told you before I’ve also included a few group suppliers that can help you as well. All you need to do is to give them the name of your insurance company, and they will take care of the rest. Afterwards, you’ll just wait for the pump to be delivered at your house. It’s that easy!

Apparently, it started quite a while ago about affordable care actwhen Affordable Care Act (ACA) make it work.

Probably because the price of a set of breast pumps can be as much as
$300 and not everyone can afford it. Also, ACA probably tried to support babies to be breastfed by their mothers in order to maintain a healthy growth.

Because of that, Affordable Care Act has been put in place, requiring insurance companies to cover breast pump rental and lactation consultants – without co-pays or deductibles. It means you can now rent a breast pump free! Better yet, some insurance companies may cover the costs of purchasing one. Written by IVillage.com.

That’s great news!

Note: If you are on a grandfathered plan, you most probably will not get any benefit from this. Go here for more information.

If your insurance company’s answer is YES, to a plan which covers a breast pump then hopefully we can find out what types of breast pumps are included. There can be manual, electrical, or automatic.

Because some of the insurance companies only cover for manual ones, which may be not good enough for you.

But, hey, that insurance company still obeys the ACA rules, right? Because the law doesn’t specify what kind of breast pumps they will have to provide. The critics say that, manual pumps are causing problems for nursing mothers.

Many working mothers are concerned because the inexpensive manual pumps aren’t speedy, efficient or comfortable enough to be practical.

The bottom line is,

From what I saw online, it’s not that easy to find the specific, thorough, or plain explanation about how it’s going to be either.

Especially, when we are so eager to find out the answer about this online.

Honestly, I can’t answer this question yet, because I do not have a list in my hands at the moment. But I did have a plan in mind to reach all top insurance companies as possible. What I offer instead is a list of situations experienced by someone like you. These are real life stories collected from various online groups.

Yes!!!! They faced it already, so why don’t we just evaluate what happen to them because, for sure, it will probably be the result for us.

Notes!!!!

The list and references discussed below have been gathered from legitimate sources on the Internet.

Sorry, if some of the references in this document don’t have any links that make reference to the original websites. This is because I started looking around for samples about two weeks ago. At that time, my intention was just to copy what people said and summarize them all in an article for this blog post. Because, I feel it’s better to keep them original so it may correlate better with your situations. I have also lost some links too. So if the webmaster insists on having the links then feel free to contact me ASAP.

I hope that the information presented here will help you more than anything. Please leave us comments and feedbacks, so that we can continue working on this.

Happy reading!

1. BCBS Group - Blog comment for Blue Cross Blue Shield

BCBS Group

Bcbs Illinois, http://www.bcbsil.com/ only covers manual pumps, not electric or hospital grade. [I forgot already, from where I got this comment]

Heather commented on mamanatural.com

I have blue cross blue shield, and they cover a maximum of $175 towards a pump, so I still had to pay $85 for my pump when I bought it in January this year. Plus, it had to be purchased from a medical supply store that they list as a provider and who carries pumps. It took me 2 months and multiple phone calls to finally get put into contact with a shop in New York that the insurance company uses. It won’t necessarily be free. It depends on your insurance plan.

Awesome advice! I had no clue. I called my insurance (BCBS FEP), and they cover 100% costs through CVS Caremark for one Ameda manual pump or one Ameda double electric pump, AND they give you 150 breastmilk storage bags! Thank you so much for the advice!

If I’m not mistaken, that girl who commented as awesome advice referred to the article posted by the webmaster about how to get or apply for breast pumps with your insurance. While I had no clue, referred to another earlier comment of this girl which said that, probably one of BCBS Group companies, had not fully covered a pump cost.

Blue Shield of California will cover only equipment rentals. Before the Affordable Care Act, the company assessed requests on a case-by-case basis, approving only those claims for the situations in which they were deemed medically necessary.

Right after this, each of the situations below I copied the link on their username, from where I got it. So you can check for yourself as reference.

G33 from huffingtonpost.co

I have excellent insurance through Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO, and they will only cover a manual pump which I think pretty much any of us would agree is completely and totally useless. Especially for a working Mom. I was super disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to get coverage for a double electric. Let’s face it, the manual pump satisfies the law, and insurance companies are going to make the most cost-effective decision in order to keep premiums down.

Bijou commented on bucks.blogs.nytimes.com

Blue Cross Blue Shield of MN only covers a manual pump. Manual pumps are worthless for working moms. Very disappointing.

Stasha commented on livingrichwithcoupons.com

Stasha commented on livingrichwithcoupons.com about someone that just complained about the possibility that the insurance bill will increase if added benefits, like a breast pump, will be included into the insurance plans.

I work for blue Cross and insurance rates won’t be going up from people using their benefits that they pay for. You pay for your insurance every month with your premium, and a breast pump is covered under your durable medical equipment coverage the same way a pair of crutches or an oxygen machine is covered. Rates will actually begin to go down over the next few years because each company will have more members posting premiums.

Callie commented on livingrichwithcoupons.com

My Blue Cross Blue Shield doesn’t cover a pump, apparently my insurance plan was grandfathered in & not required to abide by the Affordable Health Act. I called and emailed, same response from both reps.

Crlybrgr commented on livingrichwithcoupons.com

BCBS via Carecentrix gave me my manual pump for free, but tried to charge me the shipping fee that was almost as expensive as purchasing a manual pump at Target. I called BCBS and they spoke with Carecentrix who claimed it wasn’t supposed to be charged, and they took the charge off (well, the second agent BC spoke to..smells fishy to me). Make sure there are no “labor/service fees” when you work with a company who is shipping your free product.

2underTWO commented on livingrichwithcoupons.com

Awesome advice! I had no clue. I called my insurance (BCBS FEP), and they cover 100% costs through CVS Caremark for one Ameda manual pump or one Ameda double electric pump, AND they give you 150 breastmilk storage bags! Thank you so much for the advice!

Vik commented on livingrichwithcoupons.com

My Insurance Blue Cross Blue Sheild Told Me They Cover Breast pUmps After I Pay The First $250; I Am So Disappointed I actually thought they were a good insurance company. $250 is still a lot to pay for out-of-pocket,

I guess they do a benefit themselves first before helping expecting mothers :(

Amanda commented on livingrichwithcoupons.com

My insurance company covers it as well. (BCBS NJ Direct 10) I can buy from any store and they reimburse 100%. This is great since I am going back to work and want to continue to bf. Thanks!

2. Medical Supply Inc

Just got mine medela double electric breast pump covered by insurance in new york state. By A Medical Supply Inc. 845-783-6678 they were great in service & received my pump free of charge within days of emailing the dr’s prescription. Tnx hanna ask for her.

That medical supply Inc. is one of the few group suppliers that act as “middle men”. They will call, talk and most probably negotiate with your insurance company to look if there is any possibility for breast pumps to be covered by your plan. If it is, then they will arrange it for you.

Remember that certain insurance companies have their own certified group of suppliers, so that all of the subscribers can start dealing with them. You will know more about this later, towards the end of this post.

3. United Healthcare

UnitedHealthcare, the country’s largest health united healthcare groupinsurer, decided it would cover rentals and purchases. Even before the Affordable Care Act, the company had a patchwork of breast pump coverage, with certain plans covering the equipment.

For UHC subscribers, a good thing for you, they did state clearly on their website, http://www.healthy-pregnancy.com/uhc/after_delivery/421a.shtml

Even better, they specifically stated that they will provide a personal, double-electric, breast pump for you. And it is an Ameda brand too! I bet you know it, because Ameda is the top brand company in this industry. And when I said earlier that breast pumps can reach around 300 USD, most of them were Ameda. For more information, check here.

But somehow, I found this comment!!!

KLC commented on bucks.blogs.nytimes.com

I have United Healthcare and trying to get my breast pump was a complete nightmare. We are only allowed to get the breast pump through hospital or DME (durable medical equipment provider). If the hospital is not set up as a DME then, you are out of luck there. Since Hygea and Medela Advanced are the only worthwhile pumps out there, that is what I wanted. Only three DME providers covered by UHC had breast pumps. Once a company refused to allow me to have the Hygea pump and offered me a terrible pump. I had to go somewhere else and luckily they had Medela. I called in December 2012. I got on a wait list, had a confirmation # and an approx. ship date of 3/6/13. I was told they would contact me. I felt uneasy about the process to I was diligent & I called every week. One call I made on 2/17/13 I was told that there was no ship date, and they had no idea when pumps would come. Another day I was told that they got pumps in and were sold out already. This was not acceptable to me, so I had to go higher up in the chain. There seemed to be a lot of confusions about what to do/how to get pumps to people. Finally, one of the supervisor’s at Byrum healthcare realized that whoever I had spoken with had improperly input my information to begin with. Luckily, he was able to get me a pump. I can tell you that it seems that no one was prepared for the changes and the wait lists are out of control. I hope at some point this gets better. I ended up with 2 pumps…waiting took too long.

Otherwise, please check with UHC for details.

More testimonials found on the Internet:

Rebecca said on huffingtonpost.com

One important caveat to this article is that insurance companies (mine anyway – United HealthCare) only cover pumps when there is a medical necessity. I was told that mine wasn’t covered just so I could continue to feed my baby exclusively breastmilk when I returned to work. If you don’t have a medical reason for pumping, you can probably still get a prescription from your midwife or OB, but what it amounts to is insurance fraud. This is a big flaw in the new law. Moms like me still have to spring for the entire cost of a pump. And it’s freaking expensive!

4. Lopez with Kaiser Permanente

Lopez at first used a borrowed electric pump, but had to return that when her friend had another child. A colleague mentioned the health law’s requirements to Lopez and said his wife’s insurance company had given his wife an electric pump.

But when Lopez contacted her insurer, Kaiser Permanente logoKaiser Permanente, she got a different answer. The Kaiser representative told her that the plan would be authorizing reimbursement for a manual pump.

5. Aetna

I called my insurance company, Aetna, Aetna_logoand I’m happy to say I’m eligible for a completely FREE breast pump with no deductible, no co-pay and no out of pocket expenses! Woot! Here is some information directly off the Aetna site, that will vary from insurance company to insurance company, but should be pretty standard

Aetna provided me with a list of vendors and brands of breast pumps covered under my plan. I will be receiving the Medela Advanced Personal Double Breast Pump, which comes with double pumping kit, original 2-Phase Expression, A.C.power cord, power accessory battery pack, convenient shoulder bag with integrated cooler bag with ice packs, breast milk containers and shields, instructions and warranties. This pump is selling at Babies R Us for $349.99!

Char commented asking about her Aetna plan, on livingrichwithcoupons.com

I have Aetna too, and called to see how to go about getting one, not to order yet as my little one isn’t due til Aug. They are going to cover mine in full, yay, but they only gave me 2 companies that my plan will work with. One doesn’t cover medela and the one that does, says they’re out of stock and won’t be receiving anymore :( Which supply company did you luck out with???

And the webmaster of livingrichwithcoupons.com answered,

Hi Char! Aetna gave me a list of 5 different vendors that provide breast pumps. Here’s a list:

http://www.aetna.com/individuals-families-health-insurance/healthier-living/womens-health/breastfeeding.html

I called Sunmed Medical Solutions. Hope that helps and best of luck to you!

Last one, watch video below made by Kaity. More tips to share.

6. Cigna

Alissa commented on livingrichwithcoupons.com

I have Cigna and they cover it cigna logoat 100%. I have to call one month before my due date, and they have a company who ships it to you. If you need a hospital grade breast pump then, you need a Rx from a Dr and Letter of Medical Necessity, but otherwise its covered.

Sharip commented on bucks.blogs.nytimes.com.

I was able to obtain, free of charge, a Spectra Dew hospital grade breast pump through Cigna. I am so happy that they made this law. This pump has saved my milk supply for my baby. If you have Cigna, you need to call Care Centrix and they will take care of your needs. Good luck!

I hope that by now you are quite clear with what happens. Just call your insurance provider to get your breast pump for free, if it is possible.

And if your insurance company is in the list above, you may start smiling right now.

To make things even more convenient for us, Medela created tools which can allow us to search and locate if our Insurance Company can provide us a pump. The tool even lists all the suppliers and types of pumps that are available. But until now, I’m still not sure if this tool can deliver or not.

Here is a screen shot, where I choose Aetna in Alabama as an example:

screenshot-example-insurance-coverage

http://www.medelabreastfeedingus.com/insurance-pump-lookup

The following comments may stir up some concerns. Read them for your information, but, in any case, you must call your insurance company for confirmation.

Tricare.mil

Some of said it just only at least deduct the price a bit. But how much still don’t know yet. I’m a little disappointed that Tricare only covers this if you have a premature baby. They in no way provide it otherwise

BCBS via Carecentrix gave me my manual pump for free, but tried to charge me a shipping fee that was almost as expensive as purchasing a manual pump at Target. I called BCBS, and they spoke with Carecentrix who claimed it wasn’t supposed to be charged, and they took the charge off (well, the second agent BC spoke to..smells fishy to me). Make sure there are no “labor/service fees” when you work with a company who is shipping your free product.

My Insurance Blue Cross Blue Sheild Told Me They Cover Breast pUmps After I Pay The First $250; I Am So Disappointed I actually thought they were a good insurance company. $250 is still a lot to pay for out-of-pocket, I guess they do a benefit themselves first before helping expecting mothers :(

Perhaps by now you are very eager to know and want to give them a call right away, right?

To make things even easier, I outlined the following questions that may help you during your conversation with them.

Is my plan ACA compliant?

What type of pump is covered?

Can I pay the difference for the pump I want?

How much will they cover?

Does the pump require any documentation?

Do I need to go to an in-network supplier?

When can I order?

Is it still applicable for not yet born, premature baby or newborn? (This one I’d figured on my own)

The first seven questions are made by Stephen Sear from Mark Drug Medical Supply. If you go here, you will see that they did outline it one by one, just like above.

To understand even more what it means, you need to spend a few minutes reading info on this site BreastFeedChicago, over here http://breastfeedchicago.wordpress.com/2014/02/19/will-my-insurance-cover-a-breast-pump/

To ask them those questions may take some time, especially for an individual like us, who knows nothing about this process to start with.

So how about asking a professional to do that for you?

There are quite a few suppliers that can help you with this. They will talk to your insurance company, asking the right questions, such as if your plan covers a pump or not. Plus, they will manage everything for you, until the desired pump is delivered to your house.

That sounds easy, doesn’t it?

Before this, I was just gathering a few of the most commented testy around the internet about which company will cover a pump for you.

Now I ended up presenting testimonials about who helped them get their pumps.

Group of suppliers who helped them in their situations:

1. https://pumpingessentials.com
Jessica commented on mamanatural.com

I got my free pump through logohttps://pumpingessentials.com, and it was so easy. I just filled out their form online, and then they contacted me to finish the order. I got a Medela Pump in Style, with the tote bag and a hands free bra, and it all came right away before baby.

I recently used Lucina Care to order my breast pump through lucina logoUnited Health Care. I received the pump two days after ordering, and this was before my baby was born!! This was great because I was able to bring it to the hospital with me. I was very surprised to receive it so soon because the other vendors I had contacted told me I could not receive the pump until after my baby was here. I would highly recommend Lucina Care for their great customer service!

I got a Rumble Tuff pump through http://www.lucinacare.com They have much better pumps than any other provider, and their website is easier to access. I am just loving this breast pump.

I got a pump through Lucina Care. They are so helpful. I could live chat on their website, and they responded all my answers quickly. I received a Melodi pump through UHC community Plan. It has internal rechargeable battery, and I can use it anywhere without any power cord. – See more at: http://www.mamanatural.com/how-to-get-a-free-breast-pump/#sthash.ldLhIIYH.dpuf

Mark-Drug

Or maybe you’re lazy or perhaps not sure what talk with them, you can ask Stephen to call them from http://www.markdrugmedicalsupply.com/. This group will help to call your insurance provider and ask them a few question if they really obey the ACT that just what been met by federal.

Some private and some Medicaid og-logoinsurances will cover a double
electric pump in the Kentucky, Ohio,Indiana and Arkansas. mommyxpress,com can help you find out if your insurance will cover a breast pump in the states of Kentucky,Ohio,Indiana and Arkansas, check with them first before you call your insurance company to see if you qualify, Private insurance companies are as confused as you.

I contacted a DME company called Aeroflow1Aeroflow Healthcare and spoke with Courtney, she took my information, checked my insurance, contacted my doctor and got me my medela breast pump and the whole process took less than a week! I would contact her, and she will help you get the breast pump through your insurance.

For yummy mummy they even created a video for brief explanation about our topic.

More Option For References

As you might know, one of the best brand of breast pumps is made by Ameda.

And, I just noticed on their website that there is one section where they listed a group of suppliers, which will provide Ameda brand with a certain insurance company.

http://www.ameda.com/breastfeeding-products/breast-pump-coverage/affordable-care-act

So, if your insurance company is on the list, why wait to finish reading this post? Call them now. But please, don’t forget to like this post first.

Each insurance company plan is different from another, some of the laws aren’t in effect yet, and perhaps some of the policies are grandfathered. These ones will not obtain this benefit. It totally depends on your particular policy.

Bear in mind that a breast pump is not the only thing you may need in this world, when talking about how good an insurance plan is.

I try to make this information valid as much as possible. Please share your comments and let me know if any issue is missing, or information regarding this issue is outdated, so I can track back and make it as accurate as possible for everyone.

Anyone who had already got their pump, please share the story with us. Include the name of your insurance company and the pump type.

Just want to say thank you so much, for reading this post until the end.

If you found my post useful, please vote with a clickable button below.

Thanks, I think that’s it for now.

Mothers who donate extra breast milk may qualify to receive up-to $300 reimbursement on breast pumps! Here is one specific program through University Health System:http://uhs.prolacta.com/donate-breast-milk

For a complete list of other hospitals/organization we partner with that offer the reimbursement, check out http://milkbanking.net/locate

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Comments(3)

  1. June 11, 2015
    • June 25, 2015
  2. September 25, 2015

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