Breast Pump order cancelled without notification, now backordered

DreamBig317

***Long Rant - Apologizing up front for the text wall below*** 

My wife and I are extremely PO'ed over the fiasco we are going through with Edgepark Medical Supply. Here is the scoop:

Dec. 26th at 1107pm - Baby Aidan born 

Dec. 27th at 405pm - Our insurance company pre-authorized 100% coverage of below pump if we use Edgepark Medical Supply (our in network supplier)  

Dec. 27th at 419pm - Hygeia Enjoye Double Electric Breast Pump ordered

Jan. 18th at 430pm - Checking on order status, because we eagerly check the front step daily for our package.....then I was told our order was cancelled.....and after an hour on the phone I am still not happy with Edgepark.

We are being told the Authorization Dept at Edgepark called us and told us the pump was not approved by our insurance company. We received no such call, they added when the order was looked over a second time, it was then AUTHORIZED but because the original order was not, they cancelled the entire order due to a upcoming backorder. She then transfers me to a special dispute dept. extension that hangs up on me.

I called back and after the 2nd sales rep heard my carefully thought out comments she said she can't take our order now because of the indefinite back order on breast pumps! She said due to Obama there was a flood of thousands of orders to all medical supply warehouses and these orders depleted all pump inventories throughout the country. Edgepark is not taking any orders until further notice. She put me on hold and then I was disconnected again. 

On my 3rd callback I explained  to the sales rep that my wife eventually has to go back to work and we cant sit here waiting forever for a breast pump that was ordered before this "Obama rush"....she says I am right and she can resubmit my order tonight but it will have to wait until all previous backorders are fulfilled. I thanked her for at least working with me and reordering the pump while not mysteriously disconnecting.

So girls/guys what do you think? Do we have a right to be pissed about this? I called the insurance company and they said that we were/are definitely 100% covered since Michelle was pregnant. They said they will cover one double electric unit per pregnancy/birth. They have no record of a claim ever getting submitted!! So who's lying here? My insurance company gave me Edgepark's phone number to order the pump....so what gives?

I'm trying not to show how stressed I am in front of my wife since she is thankfully breastfeeding without a single issue at the moment. I burp him and change him every time he needs either, I even bathed him every time. But I want to help her out a little bit more because she can't sleep for more than an hour or two at a time since little man has been cluster feeding and is seemingly nocturnal since week 2. 

Sorry again for the long rant...just venting to our cyber community

LittleFish1

First, on behalf of your wife, who will not know about the roundabout you're receiving until much later, thank you for dealing with this. Especially considering the lack of sleep you both are experiencing.

Second, the medical supply company and insurance company have both had sufficient warning that this was coming and should have been prepared. When you talked with the insurance company, did you talk with a supervisor and keep going up the chain of command? I would think they should have a back up plan for when a supplier is out of stock ... may not even be aware the supplier is back ordered. The breastfeeding board might be a good place to repost this.

Do you have a tv station with a consumer reporter? They may have suggestions or be able to offer assistance.

kjsmith9

I'm sorry you guys are dealing with this.  I don't understand why this breast pump coverage has become SUCH an issue.  I've read about a lot of issues on other boards too.

If the DME companies are running out of pumps, then tell people to go buy their own pumps at the store, get a receipt, and send it in to get reimbursed!  It's that simple.  You can't just say "sorry, everything is on backorder, tell your LO that breastfeeding isn't important until the company restocks."

P.S. I work in the health field and know how messed up insurance is.  I still think it's stupid haha 

JessAnnJ

I'm sorry you guys are going through this. I did not have pump problems but I have had situations where the insurance company and the provider blame each other and you have no way of proving anything.

DreamBig317

I should really lean on my insurance co right? They are the company I paid thousands to over the years in family premiums even though it was just my wife and I for 5 years and we never went to the doctor other than for annual physicals.

I tried calling the insurance co benefits dept and they are closed until monday. So until then we must wait, I will keep you all posted.

DreamBig317

Today I started my day by calling my insurance co to see what the heck happened in December with our breast pump order. They were closed for observation of today's holiday, good for them.

So I thought maybe I should call back the medical supply store and talk to a supervisor. So I contacted a rep(5th so far) and she was nice as pie. She looked through all the previous sales rep's notes and said she did not understand why I was getting the run around.

I asked her kindly to reinstate our original order from December and she AGREED to do so! She said that would actually put us ahead of all the Obamacare backorders. She added that they just received a shipment today of pumps and ours was IN STOCK and ready to ship as soon as tomorrow!

One note though she said my insurance co did not approve the hospital grade Hygeia double pump that was originally ordered. They said the pump that was approved and 100% covered is a Ameda Purely Yours.

What do you ladies think about the Ameda/Evenflo Purely Yours? I am reading all the search results on this forum right now.

Thank you all and be safe.