Sponsors (8)
The bill expands Medicaid coverage of doulas, midwives, tribal midwives, and lactation supports—likely improving maternal and infant outcomes and reducing out-of-pocket costs for low-income people—while increasing Medicaid/state spending and posing implementation, provider-availability, and quality-assurance challenges for states.
Medicaid-enrolled pregnant and postpartum people will gain covered access to doulas, midwives (including tribal midwives), and lactation support beginning in 2027, increasing available clinically and culturally-congruent maternity supports.
Pregnant people — especially Black and Native women — may see improved birth outcomes and reduced racial disparities in maternal health due to increased use of doula and midwifery care.
Medicaid enrollees will not face enrollment fees, premiums, deductions, or other cost-sharing for these services, lowering out-of-pocket costs for low-income pregnant and postpartum people.
States and the federal government will likely face increased Medicaid spending to cover these mandatory benefits, which could require budget shifts, higher public spending, or policy trade-offs elsewhere.
Requiring expansion of doula/midwifery and out-of-hospital care without clear, uniform implementation standards and transfer protocols — combined with certification/training requirements — could cause variable quality of care, access gaps, and potential safety risks in emergencies.
States may face administrative burdens and short-term costs to update provider-enrollment systems, laws, and Medicaid plans to comply with the new mandatory benefits and provider recognition timelines.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Requires Medicaid to cover culturally congruent doula, midwife, tribal midwife, and lactation services for prenatal, labor, and postpartum care and bans cost-sharing.
Official title: Amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide coverage under the Medicaid program for services provided by doulas, midwives, and lactation support providers, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 15, 2026 by Elizabeth Warren · Last progress July 15, 2026
Requires Medicaid to cover culturally congruent prenatal, labor, postpartum, and lactation support services provided by doulas, midwives (including tribal midwives), and lactation providers, and bars cost-sharing for those services. Defines covered provider types and settings (including home, community, hospital, birth center, clinic, health unit, and permitted telehealth) and makes the benefit a mandatory State-plan service with an implementation date of January 1, 2027 and a state-legislative compliance safe‑harbor.