US EditionDoulas, Once a Luxury, Are Increasingly Covered by Medicaid — Even in GOP States
JASPER COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA, JUL 7 – Federal Medicaid cuts threaten coverage for 17 million people and could undermine state efforts expanding doula services that improve maternal health and reduce racial disparities.
- Republican and Democratic lawmakers in several states, including South Carolina and Montana, are advancing Medicaid reimbursement bills for doula services in 2025 to improve maternal care.
- These bills respond to evidence that doulas improve birth outcomes and reduce costs amid persistent racial disparities and low initial participation due to past low Medicaid rates.
- Doulas like Dawn Oliver provide essential postpartum support often unpaid or undercompensated, while Medicaid covers more than half of births in areas like South Carolina where doula fees remain largely uncovered by insurance.
- A 2024 study found that Medicaid-enrolled women using doulas faced 47% lower C-section risk and 29% fewer preterm births, highlighting benefits amidst 2022 data showing Black infants in South Carolina died twice as often before age one.
- The expansion of doula coverage suggests potential to narrow health gaps and lower costs, though advocates express uncertainty over how forthcoming federal Medicaid cuts could affect these state efforts.
64 Articles
64 Articles
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Doulas, once a luxury, are increasingly covered by Medicaid, even in GOP states
By Lauren Sausser, Katheryn Houghton, KFF Health News As a postpartum doula, Dawn Oliver does her best work in the middle of the night. During a typical shift, she shows up at her clients’ home at 10 p.m. She answers questions they may have about basic infant care and keeps an eye out for signs of postpartum depression. After bedtime, she may feed the baby a bottle or wake the mother to breastfeed. She soothes the infant back to sleep. Sometimes…
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