The Case for Creating a Model Insurance Policy: Payer Coverage of Breastfeeding Counseling Services, Pumps, and Supplies

Abstract

With the implementation of the Health Resources and Services Administration Women's Preventive Services Guidelines, which went into effective August 1, 2012, under the Affordable Care Act, healthcare insurance companies across the country have interpreted the breastfeeding support provision in a variety of ways. In order to improve benefit design and promote transparency and accountability, the National Breastfeeding Center and the United States Breastfeeding Committee co-authored a model insurance policy that seeks to educate insurance executives about appropriately supporting breastfeeding medicine for purposes of improving population health.