United Healthcare Wants To Stop Covering Your Baby’s Lactation Care
[This content is adapted from Annie Frisbee with City Lactation with permission.]
On September 1, 2026, UHC is planning to change how it covers lactation support and drastically reduce access to care for any claims filed after this date. The proposed change is that UHC will no longer cover your baby's lactation claims, only the parent.
Here’s why this matters. As you may have experienced yourself, lactation visit is care for two people at once: you and your baby. Breastfeeding involves two people (or in the case of multiples, even more!). Two patients with individual health histories. Two patients requiring individualized examinations and assessments. Two patients to coordinate care with their providers. Two patients requiring individualized care plans. If baby’s insurance does not cover lactation benefits, the dyad will receive half the care and your lactation consultant may be forced to leave UHC’s network or increase fees to accommodate the reduced reimbursement.
We are pushing back against this in the hopes that UHC will change its mind. If you want to help us, keep reading for an explanation and letter templates ready to customize and send to your employer and your elected officials. This isn’t final, and and your lactation consultants need your help in this fight.
Below you can find ready-to-send letter templates written from the perspective of both parents and providers so you don’t have to start from a blank page. Each has fill-in blanks and a few spots marked “in your own words.” Please use those spots. Your story, what lactation help meant for you and your baby, is the single most powerful thing in the letter. A real story from a real parent and provider does more than anything else.
💼 Tell your employer (this is your strongest lever)
If you get UnitedHealthcare through your job, your employer isn’t a bystander, they often are the decision-maker. Many work plans are “self-funded,” which means your employer pays the claims and just hires UnitedHealthcare to run things. In those plans, your employer can push back on UnitedHealthcare directly, and HR will listen to employees. This template includes a formal version and a short email/Slack version.
⬇ Download the employer letter (Word)
🏛️ File a complaint with your state’s insurance regulator
Your state has a Department of Insurance whose job is to make sure insurers follow the law, including the ACA’s promise to cover preventive care. You don’t have to be an expert to file, and you don’t have to be a provider. If you or your baby is covered by UnitedHealthcare, they want to hear from you.
⬇ Download the insurance-regulator letter (Word)
🗳️ Write your elected officials
Elected officials pay close attention to stories from the people they represent. They can open inquiries and apply pressure on the agencies that oversee insurance.
⬇ Download the elected-officials letter (Word)
Where to send each one
Employer letter → your HR or benefits team (and your manager, if that’s how things move at your job). The letter asks HR to find out whether your plan is self-funded, you don’t need to know that in advance.
Insurance regulator → find your state’s office at naic.org, or search “[your state] file an insurance complaint.” Most have an online form you can paste your letter into. Have your UnitedHealthcare member ID handy.
Elected officials → find yours at usa.gov/elected-officials. Your state representatives and governor are best for state-level pressure; your U.S. Representative and Senators are best for the federal angle. Sending to several is fine.
Two essential ingredients to make your letters work
Add your story. I’ll say it again because it matters most: fill in the “in your own words” parts. Two or three honest sentences about your experience will do more than the rest of the letter combined.
Share this page. The more parents who see this, the more letters get sent, and the harder UnitedHealthcare is to ignore. Forward it to your parent friends, your moms’ groups, your prenatal class chat, anyone with UnitedHealthcare.
The change takes effect September 1, so the sooner you act, the better. This is winnable. Companies walk back bad decisions when enough people speak up through enough channels.
With gratitude for every parent and provider who takes two minutes to push back,
Abbie Bridges, MPH, IBCLC, CLC
Owner, Bridges Lactation