Attention all doulas – there is a new bill being introduced that sets out to enhance maternal health coverage for new moms with Medicaid, which covers close to half of the births in America. The bill, known as the MOMMIES Act (which stands for Maximizing Outcomes for Moms through Medicaid Improvement and Enhancement of Services Act) is being sponsored by Senators Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Tammy Baldwin, Ben Cardin, Richard Blumenthal and Kirsten Gillibrand and seeks to extend coverage for moms for up to a full year after childbirth and hopes to take action to expand doula care access to new mothers in order to provide better emotional, physical and informational support, among other incentives that would help to increase maternal health. The bill would also help to decrease the disparity in quality of care across race and class which puts women of color at greater risk for complications.
The MOMMIES Act bill is in response to a recent study that found that while maternal deaths are decreasing in other countries around the world, rates of maternal death are actually increasing in the U.S. The bill essentially enhances Medicaid and CHIP so more women can get the support they need at an affordable price.
So doulas, what do you think? Would you support the MOMMIES Act? Read the entire article in the link below:
https://www.booker.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=854
Author: Aliza Juliette Bancoff
Aliza Juliette Bancoff is a well-known doula and doula trainer who has been providing doula services to families for over a decade. She is the founder of Main Line Doulas, a doula group providing doula support in the great Philadelphia area for the last decade, the International Doula Institute, which provides online doula training and lactation training and certification programs and the International Breastfeeding Institute which provides lactation training and certification. She is the co-founder of United Birth, a company devoted to increasing access to doulas across the country to make the perinatal time safer both physically and emotionally. “Every birthing person deserves access to quality doula support. And we are working to make that a reality across the country. The work we are doing to get doulas to every birthing person will decrease the black infant and maternal mortality rate significantly by 2030.” Says Bancoff. Aliza is known for her compassionate and empowering approach to doula work, and she has been featured in numerous media outlets, including United Nations Maternal Health Report, Parent Magazine, CafeMom, theBump and many more. Aliza's journey into doula work began when she gave birth to her first child and felt a strong calling...