On January 1, 2026, Oregon Senate Bill 692 took effect. The legislation requires commercial health benefit plans to cover perinatal services, including services provided by doulas, lactation counselors, and lactation educators. The legislation also requires the Oregon Health Authority to create a perinatal services access program that increases these services, including issuing grants to eligible entities with demonstrated ability to offer community-based services to pregnant or postpartum individuals from conception through one year of postpartum. These services include, among other things, support for billing insurance for community-based services during the perinatal period.
Under the legislation, health benefit plans that reimburse the cost of pregnancy and childbirth expenses must provide coverage for services provided by doulas, lactation counselors, and lactation educators. Covered services required include a minimum of 24 hours of services, in addition to labor and delivery services, regardless of birth outcome, with an option for the health benefit plan to approve additional hours based on need. Health plans must provide information on these services, and except for coverage of additional hours based on need, health plans cannot require prior authorization, a referral from another healthcare provider or a signature from or supervision by any other healthcare provider for coverage of these services. Finally, this coverage must reimburse the cost of coverage up to a total amount not less than $3,760, with the dollar limit adjusted annually.
For more information, please see the official text of Senate Bill 692.