Yes (sometimes). Doulas are known! Doulas are recognized as necessary, wanted, and well used when accessible! And as more people use the services and request reimbursement, the more that insurance companies have gotten in the action of listing and paying for these services.

Is your workplace family-friendly? As an employer, are you helping or hindering your staff from getting support for pregnancy, parental leave time and other benefits?

Doulas are not a fringe service. Extended benefits through workplace insurance is covering services related to the childbearing years – not every place – and not very loudly, but we are hearing more and more stories of successful reimbursements. Some policies will cover birth and postpartum doulas, even childbirth education classes!

Check it out, Sunlife lists doulas services under Personal Spending Accounts, Health products and services.

Sunlife are not the only ones. January 2022 will see OMA Insurance launch the Pregnancy and Family Support Benefit which names doulas and lactation consultants as eligible for reimbursement

Congratulations on the expansion of coverage! Families need more help, especially in the early days weeks and months of life with a baby.

And if a company is not specifically listing doulas, people have gotten a portion of their costs covered by ASKING as it can sometimes fall under Health Care or Personal Care spending accounts. It’s worth submitting a letter requesting for the coverage, this is what has been making a difference to GET explicitly named: consumers need to be asking for it, until it becomes commonplace. And then everyone wins.

What other places are covering doula costs? What are your workplace experiences during your pre and postpartum time? What are your ideas on how to get your care covered?