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Committee advances postpartum doula certification bill after waiving state fee and removing mandated coverage
Summary
The House Health Committee advanced House Bill 14-64 as amended to create postpartum doula certification, waive an additional state certification fee, require data collection and remove a mandate to require coverage; the final committee vote was 13-0.
The House Health Committee voted 13-0 to advance House Bill 14-64 as amended to create a postpartum doula certification and direct data collection on utilization, while removing a provision that would have mandated coverage.
Representative Dobrevitch, who led discussion on the bill, said the intent was to assure doula services are available to families using Medicaid without imposing a mandate on private insurers. "The intention was to assure that it was available to any family utilizing Medicaid services. But it is not optional, they're not forced to, and there's no intention to make a mandate to PERS or to health insurance," Dobrevitch said.
Committee amendment language added a prohibition on charging an additional state doula licensure or certification fee and directed a report to Legislative Management during the interim. Representative Dobrevitch moved the amendment to add the fee waiver and data-collection requirement and Representative Anderson seconded; the voice vote carried.
Committee members expressed concern that codifying certification requirements could raise costs for doulas and reduce participation. Representative Freilich recounted a recent increase in external certification fees for doulas and urged a provision to avoid creating an additional state fee that would burden practitioners. "I'm just worried that we're going to be increasing the cost of fees," Freilich said.
The committee later voted to remove section 2, which would have required mandated coverage, on a motion by Representative Balinski, seconded by Representative Rohrer; that amendment passed 13-0. With that change, the committee approved a do-pass as amended recommendation and the bill will move forward without a mandate to require private coverage. The committee discussion also added a data-collection requirement to report during the interim to Legislative Management so lawmakers can review utilization and cost information before further action.
The amendments aim to preserve access to doula certification and postpartum support for Medicaid recipients while minimizing new costs or mandates for insurers or doulas themselves. Committee members asked that the department and sponsor return with data addressing certification fees and program costs.
The committee recorded a 13-0 roll call in favor of the due pass as amended.
