Walmart is offering a new benefit to associates enrolled in their healthcare plan and living in Louisiana, Indiana, or Illinois: doula services.
A doula is a non-medical professional who supports a pregnant person during pregnancy, delivery, and for a short period after birth. After a pilot program started last year in Georgia, Walmart is now offering its associates in three more states up to $1,000 for doula services.
The company isn’t offering the service as a fancy perk to retain their employees in a competitive job market. Rather, it is hoping to help lower the risk of pregnancy and delivery. Walmart’s rationale for choosing the four pilot states is that they suffer from an especially high rate of maternal mortality and morbidity even in the context of the already poor maternal health outcomes in the US.
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