Iowa Medicaid currently does not cover breast pumps, even in cases of medical necessity. Many pumps are open system so they are only available for single person use. Therefore, harder for a mother to find a good, used, closed system pump.

WIC does help with pumps but only if the child is under a year old and the mother is working or planning on returning to work. If a mother does not meet these requirements then WIC does not provide a pump at all.

The Affordable Care Act requires ALL insurances to cover breast pumps and breastfeeding support yet Iowa Medicaid, and Medicaid in many other states, are somehow able to get around this law. It is unfair and unjust to subject infants to the risks associated with using a second-hand open system breast pump and it is even worse when an infant risks starvation and dehydration because a mother cannot keep her supply up due to being unable to pump when away from her child.

I am one of those moms that had a breast pump denied. My son was 15 months old and could not swallow most foods. He also had trouble with taking bottles and sippy cups. I began working after his first birthday, about the same time he began occupational therapy for his feeding issues. I could not get help from WIC and saved up for a hand pump which broke after just a few uses. His doctor felt I needed to pump while at work to keep my supply up due to my sons reliance on breastmilk and wrote a prescription.

Medicaid refused to fill it even though it risked my son needing IV's and a feeding tube. I was extremely lucky to have a friend work for a breast pump company and give me a new pump but others are not so lucky. Using a second-hand breast pump risks mold in the pump, diseases being spread from one woman to another's infant, and supply loss due to a failing pump. This is not right, no child should have to risk these things and no mother should be forced to put their child at risk because Iowa Medicaid refuses to follow the law!”