On Friday, the Illinois legislature will start discussing a new bill that would allow doulas to be covered under Medicaid. The bill It would cover weekly prenatal doula services, labor and delivery and doula services up to a year after birth.
Dr. Twylla Dillon, HealthConnect, One Executive Director, released the following statement in support of this critical legislation:
“In this critical pandemic moment, long-standing health inequities in birth experiences in Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities put women, birthing people, and babies center stage. If enacted, the Medicaid coverage of doula care legislation in the IllInois legislature will be a down payment on the state’s efforts to end preventable maternal death and eliminate racial inequities in maternal health outcomes. The bill is an important and necessary step towards this goal.”
If you are in IllInois, you can add support to this legislation by calling your legislator.
You can find your legislator at this link!
Or you can call the State of Illinois at 217-782-2000 or 312-814-3500 to get the number for your IllInois state representative.
When you call:
- Let them know you are a constituent.
- Say that you are calling to ask your representative to support the bill for doula coverage under Medicaid.