Not Created Equal ("A Mama's Rant on DME Companies") | MVP Mama
In preparation to gear up for baby 2 (pun intended :D) I started researching pumps again to see what improvements had been made since my experience with baby 1. While I loved the Freemie originally, the customer service eventually soured my opinion of the company since it was so unhelpful (plug for future post on how this has impacted our car buying decisions) that I decided to take another look at some other hands-free options I had skipped the first time around. Having a stable pump system is a must!
After this decision point was crossed, I settled pretty quickly on the Elivie Stride as the new frontrunner. With the entrance of so many startups in this space, I did spend a little time researching alternatives, but given that my time was limited and pumps are not returnable, I decided that if the cost seemed reasonable we would go with a more established product to save 1) time and hopefully the 2) stress of having to remediate whatever we bought later on.
Having said that, I was curious what I could do to bring down the price? A quick search on google left me with ambigious results, as it wasn’t clear if the manufacturers were pricing fixing (required a fixed price to be presented to the customer prior to insurance. I did a quick comparison of a couple of DMS (1naturalway and Pumping Essentials) and to my surprise, found that the price difference was nearly $75! Definitely something I wish I had known the first time.
While it’s possible, the different companies simply pulled my insurance differently, here’s what I would recommend -
Shop around to find the best DME for your chosen pump. Not every company offers every pump, so decide what you want to get first. For my pump, you can check HERE to see which ones I found with the lowest pricing.
Do they offer a coupon code? A lot of companies offer 10-15% off to new customers signing up with text or email marketing campaigns. Likely worth it and easy to unsubscribe later if you’re getting too much junk.
Can you use your FSA? DME companies typically allow you to do this, so if you’ve put aside some money for medical expenses, this can go toward any out of pocket costs you may still have.
Pro Tip💡 - A lot of DME companies offer other items for postpartum care that are fully covered by insurance as well as other freebies; I got a great set of support wear the first time for example. You should be able to take advantage of this regardless of whether you get a pump from that particular vendor or not.