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Lawmakers debate postpartum doula certification and Medicaid coverage; sponsor proposes study
Summary
Representative Gretchen Dobrevich asked the committee to convert House Bill 1464 into a study after the Medicaid coverage and fiscal note were removed. Stakeholders split: the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists supported Medicaid coverage, while local doula groups warned against restricting certification to a single organization.
Representative Gretchen Dobrevich (District 11) asked the Senate Human Services Committee to consider amending House Bill 1464, which originally proposed postpartum doula certification and Medicaid reimbursement for postpartum doula services, into an interim study examining how to develop doula services in North Dakota.
Dobrevich said the governor’s budget did not include a doula program and that amendments in the House removed a $280,000 biennial fiscal note. Under the amended bill language she presented in committee, the bill would create a registry and a report to legislative management but would not create an immediate Medicaid reimbursement program. “Without a formal…
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