Legislative & Policy Agenda 2023
Licensed Midwives provide comprehensive, high quality prenatal care, have excellent birth outcomes and support breastfeeding—all while bending down the healthcare cost curve.

Increase Medicaid Reimbursement for Birth Center Facility Fees and Home Birth Supplies in the State Budget. Improve midwifery care access by making the profession more sustainable. The requested rates of home birth supplies at $1000 (from $75) per birth and the birth center facility reimbursement at $4900 (from $1700) per birth still represent a cost savings to the state as maternity care is an entitlement and the alternative is hospital care. The total cost to the state for the biennium for the increases is approximately $1 million, and qualifies for a $1.5 million federal match. (Champions are Rep. Monica Stonier and Sen. Emily Randall.)

Continue support for the cap on midwifery annual professional licensing fee. A study commissioned by the legislature showed that capping annual professional licensing fees for midwives at $525 is well worth the money. Since this cap was put in place, the licensed midwife workforce has more than doubled, resulting in more families in Washington having access to high-quality, cost-effective care and even greater savings to the state budget. The total cost of the licensing fee cap is $300,000 for the biennium (Champions are Rep. Beth Doglio and Sen. Sam Hunt.)   

Midwifery Facts:
  • Birth outcomes are excellent
  • Community birth is safe and valued 
  • Licensed midwives contract with both private and public payers
  • Saves the state money with our cost saving outcomes

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​Other Bills we are supporting:
HB 1541
  • Establishing the nothing about us without us act to increase access and representation in policy-making processes for people with direct lived experience

SB 5477:
  • Implementing the recommendations of the Washington state missing and murdered indigenous women and people task force.

SB 5581
  • Developing strategies to reduce or eliminate deductibles for maternal support services & postpartum care. 

SB 5580: 
  • Update the maternity support services program to address perinatal outcomes and increase equity and healthier birth outcomes

HB 1177/SB5137
  • Creating a missing and murdered indigenous women and people cold case investigations unit.
42% of Community Births happen in 
23 Freestanding Birth Centers
Map with Links
9 New Freestanding Birth Centers
(almost all in underserved areas) began operating over the past 5 years, but 4 have also had to close
​(and 2 more may soon).
Close up of Most Birth Centers in the Puget Sound:
References

Washington State Maternal Mortality Review Panel: Maternal Deaths 2017–2020 Report (Feb 2023)

NPR 2/23/23: The number of mothers who die due to pregnancy or childbirth is 'unacceptable' 

Seattle Times 2/27/23: Black, Native infants in King County die at higher rate than white babies

ACOG Journal (2021): Birth Outcomes for Planned Home and Licensed Freestanding Birth Center Births in WA State 

Value of midwifery care

Department of Health Cost Benefit Study, reaffirmed 2017 
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​​Click here for more information about our Annual Midwife Lobby Day and plan to join us!
Land Acknowledgement 
MAWS acknowledges that we live and work on the unceded ancestral lands of the Coast Salish tribes and pay our respects to all of the ancestral homelands and traditional territories of Indigenous peoples who have been here since time immemorial. We recognize that this land touches on the shared waters of tribes and bands within the Duwamish, Puyallup, Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations. We recognize we are grateful to be guests in these lands and commit to show solidarity for the continued fight for Indigenous sovereignty. ​