Breastfeeding Benefits Your Insurance Doesn’t Tell You About

If you’re planning to breastfeed your baby during the first year after birth, then you might want to consider all the benefits you can get from your health insurance company.

In 2010, the Affordable Care Act passed and was signed into law to reform comprehensive health insurance. As a result, there were changes that affected individuals, families, insurers, businesses, and government entities. Most importantly, there were changes that gave pregnant and nursing mothers breastfeeding benefits.

Here’s what we know.

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1. You are subject to a free breast pump

Yep! You got that right. A free breast pump.

In case you haven’t noticed, breast pumps can be a little pricey. Unless you’re looking for a manual pump that costs less than a hundred, you’re okay, but if you’re looking for a breast pump that comes with a machine, it typically costs from $100 – $300.

That’s why if you’re insured, make sure you take advantage of this benefit. It’s required by law for insurers to provide free breastfeeding equipment and you save yourself money on spending on one.

2. Breastfeeding support

So you’re new to breastfeeding and you think it’s easy. But what you don’t know is that it can be a real challenge!

Breastfeeding actually requires practice and learning. From learning how to position your baby to understanding what you should and should not do so you can increase your supply.

Questions you may face:

• How to hold your newborn properly when breastfeeding
• What kind of breastfeeding positions are there
• How to store breast milk
• How to breastfeed

As a first-time mom, these were common questions I was curious about and it really helps to have support or counseling when you need it.

How to Get Your Free Breast Pump

Call Your Insurance Company

The first thing you want to do is get with your insurance company. Use the contact number located on the back of your card and call your insurance company about their breast pump policies or references. There are certain places that your insurance company may refer you to. There may also be certain procedures you have to follow as well!

Ask Your Doctor

If you’re unsure of where to get your breast pump, you may ask your doctor where he or she can send a request for a free breast pump. After all, your doctor is the one with all the proof of your pregnancy so any paperwork required will come from your Doctor.

A Glance at My Experience

One thing I recommend you doing is to look into a free breast pump when you’re around 5-7 months pregnant.

The reason is, the closer you are to your due date, the bigger you will be and it’s much harder to run around when you’re carrying heavy weight all day. My mistake was requesting my breast pump at eight months (I was exhausted).

The first thing I did was contact my insurance carrier using the phone number located at the back of my insurance card. Thankfully, I got a helpful representative who was able to recommend medical suppliers that align with my insurance coverage.

Overall, I had two options:

• Call or sign up on online with the medical supplier, that my insurance carrier recommended, for my free breast pump.
• Call my doctor and ask to send a request to a local supplier for a free breast pump

I figured that getting with a recommended medical supplier was a little more complicated than I wanted because some forms required Pre-Authorizations or specific medical codes that I didn’t have on-hand.

Instead, I took the easy route.

I called my doctor and they were able to send my request to a supplier that the doctor normally uses. During the same day, I was able to pick it up as soon as it was ready.

Additional Resources:

Breastfeeding Benefits by Healthcare.gov

Breastfeeding Information from Lansinoh

Breastfeeding Information from Medela