Anyone's LO using Neocate?

Spartanmama722

Hi ladies, I posted last week looking for advice on our LO's milk/soy protein intolerance which wasn't responding to Alimentum. Well, today our pedi diagnosed reflux in addition to the allergy and switched us to Neocate for formula. Anyone have any experience with this formula and have good results on it? I'm also curious whether anyone has found a good price for ordering it - our pedi gave us a few sample cans and said to expect around $40 a can, but I'm hoping I can find a better price than that since at over 2 cans a week the cost is going to be brutal! DH and I are going to try fighting with our insurance to see if they'll cover any of the cost, but I'm not optimistic (if anyone has successfully gotten insurance to pay, any tips would be greatly appreciated).

fairyfey10

My DD is still on Neocate, and has been for about six months due to severe MSPI.  She has done much better on the formula than she did on Nutramagin, we never did Alimentum.  

I receive WIC and get just enough to feed her a month.  Neocate has a website and a bunch of programs.  Check out this link to see if any will help you.

 https://www.neocateusa.com/aaa_neocate/16485-reimbursement-support.html

In my area it runs about 44 dollars a can.  Good luck I hope you can get your insurance to help. 

faith194

DS is on Elecare(a different elemental formula). Our Pedi GI wrote a great explanation to the insurance company explaining how DS needs it. We haven't had to fight it yet. DS was on Nutramigen and I was on an elimation diet(we supplemented due to supply issues). 24 hours on Elecare, his symptoms cleared.

 

Good Luck!

Wendy1210

My DS is on Neocate for the past 6 mos. We tried Alimentum but the allergist decided that Neocate would be better due to milk/soy allergy. He had horrible eczema & acid reflux. We used to use Aveeno baby eczema cream which actually ended up making him worse. Within 12 hrs of stopping that he got a lot better. He's on Zantac 2x's daily for his acid reflux which also helps. He didn't have a problem adjusting to the Neocate. He does drink less of it than the other formula but slowly increased a little but now that he is on foods, he doesn't eat that much formula.

 The Neocate is expensive. I order it directly from Neocate. My allergist wrote a letter to my insurance company as well as Neocate emailing me information to help my case and luckily, my insurance company pays for it. But, if you call Neocate, they will help you get your insurance to cover at least part of it. I can also email you the letter I sent to the insurance company if you PM me your email address. Oh also if you sign up with Neocate, they will give you $20 off your first order and if you do automatic delivery, it will take 5% off your entire order too.

 Good luck. PM me anything if you need to talk. :-)

Fuzzy8252

I would order direct from Neocate and set up the auto reorder. We're on Neocate Jr., which runs $139 for a "case" of 4.

As for getting your insurance to cover, just prepare to battle. Our insurance company pretty much wants the entire financial report from Nuturica for each claim, which only goes back to our deductiable.

Miller238

My daughter has been on it for about 10 months. Our insurance said that if we ordered from a contracted HME company, then they would cover it. We pay 10% coinsurance on it after we meet our deductible. We get 5 cases at a time, once a month. It is $1,500 before insurance, but after discounts and insurance, we pay about $115 a month. We grt the formula from a company called Edgepark because they are contracted with our insurance company. Good luck. We had a hard time getting them to cover it at first.

Spartanmama722

Thanks for the help everyone! We got our first ever 4 hour stretch of sleep last night (longest before last night was less than 3 hours), so we're hoping it wasn't a fluke and is a sign that we're on the right track! DH has been watching him all morning and said he also hasn't been eating every 2 hours or less like usual (we think he was eating constantly to soothe his stomach poor guy), and has been in a really good mood today. Which is even more impressive since he just got all his shots yesterday so we were expecting a crabby baby today for sure. Hopefully this means that the combo of Neocate and Zantac will help and he'll be a happier baby from now on.

Now on to tackling the insurance company. I'm so glad to see at least a few success stories with getting insurance to cover the Neocate - gives me a little bit of hope that they won't just laugh at us when we ask

Thanks again for all the advice and success stories

Spartanmama722

Wendy1210:

My DS is on Neocate for the past 6 mos. We tried Alimentum but the allergist decided that Neocate would be better due to milk/soy allergy. He had horrible eczema & acid reflux. We used to use Aveeno baby eczema cream which actually ended up making him worse. Within 12 hrs of stopping that he got a lot better. He's on Zantac 2x's daily for his acid reflux which also helps. He didn't have a problem adjusting to the Neocate. He does drink less of it than the other formula but slowly increased a little but now that he is on foods, he doesn't eat that much formula.

 The Neocate is expensive. I order it directly from Neocate. My allergist wrote a letter to my insurance company as well as Neocate emailing me information to help my case and luckily, my insurance company pays for it. But, if you call Neocate, they will help you get your insurance to cover at least part of it. I can also email you the letter I sent to the insurance company if you PM me your email address. Oh also if you sign up with Neocate, they will give you $20 off your first order and if you do automatic delivery, it will take 5% off your entire order too.

 Good luck. PM me anything if you need to talk. :-)

Thanks for the tips for the insurance company! I may take you up on that letter depending on what they say on Monday. Hoping it isn't just a flat out "no"!

Wendy1210

I had a few people from the insurance company straight out tell me no so I went straight to tell me who to discuss this with further & it happened to be someone I dealt with before this so I had her email & went straight for it & it got covered first shot ~ 100% when normally we pay 10% for our prescriptions but I'm not complaining. 

chica180

Our little girl has been on Neocate for a month. She has had really bad eczema and we believe it is caused by a milk allergy...among others. Because they are able to prove she has gotten better on the neocate formula, our insurance is paying for it. Our doctor wrote us a prescription, and we are able to pick it up right at the pharmacy!!  It is so so expensive, so we are very grateful! Talk to your doctor...I think a lot of getting the insurance to pay for it is in how the doctor words and documents it. Good luck!!

ABColeslaw

Hey there.  Neocate will run closer to 55 a can unless you can get it in bulk directly from Nutricia.  They just lowered the price...it used to be A LOT more.  You really should see if your health insurance will cover it or reimburse.  If not I would check with WIC. 

Asher has been on Neocate since he was 11 weeks old.  We also did Nutra for a while and now hes on Neocate Junior.  All I have to say is Thank God we live in a time where medical food like this exists.  

Oh and expect stinky weird poop for a while!  Good Luck!