Costs
The HMBANA Guidelines stipulate that donors not be paid for their milk. However, collection, processing and distribution of milk are expensive, and recipients are charged $3.00-$4.50 per ounce of milk to cover some of the cost. Community fundraising and grants also help milk banks meet expenses. The guidelines ensure that no one is denied donor milk for lack of ability to pay. For non-hospitalized recipients, the milk bank will often work with the family to obtain coverage for processing fees (Arnold, 1997). However, insurance companies rarely cover donor milk, except under unusual circumstances (Griffith, 2002). In some states, and under some circumstances, Medicaid and WIC will cover the costs of using banked milk (Arnold, 1999, Wight, 2001).
When hospitals order banked milk for their NICUs it is often brought into the pharmacy and billed through the hospital. In these cases, insurance companies are much more likely to cover the processing fees than for outpatients (Arnold, 1997).
Read more about this topic: Human Milk Banking In North America
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